Collusion between HDZ BiH and SNSD: Čović protects Zubac in the "Zovko-oil" case due to criminal activity

In early February 2015, the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) submitted a report to the BiH Prosecutor's Office regarding suspicious events at the Federal Commodity Reserves Directorate concerning the disappearance of approximately 1.6 million liters of eurodiesel and gasoline from the "Zovko-oil" warehouse in Žepče, valued at around six million BAM.

Interestingly, precisely at the time when the report was to be submitted to the BiH Prosecutor's Office, a secret meeting was held in a catering facility in Lukavica between SIPA Director Goran Zubac and his deputy Đuro Knežević with the Director of the FBiH Commodity Reserves Directorate, Tončo Bavrka, reports the BiH news agency Patria.

Patria's source, well-informed about the developments in this case, claims that after the meeting, the SIPA Director and his deputy ordered the investigators in charge to merely "take note" of all information and instructions from the BiH Prosecutor's Office regarding this case, and to obstruct the proceedings as much as possible by forwarding meager information about undertaken measures and actions to the Prosecutor's Office instead of preparing a report on the committed criminal offense!

COLLUSION BETWEEN HDZ BiH AND SNSD

However, SIPA's service in the "Zovko Oil" case was not free, which was best demonstrated by the unsuccessful attempts to dismiss the convicted SIPA Director Goran Zubac, who was protected by members of the Independent Board of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH from HDZ BiH, who either voted against his dismissal or did not attend the sessions at all.

This case shows the direct connection between the political leaders of HDZ BiH and SNSD, Dragan Čović and Milorad Dodik, who, through their proteges, are covering up criminal activity worth millions of marks.

Our source also reveals that the prosecutor in charge, Edina Hubjer, allowed SIPA's obstruction and the dragging out of the investigation.

BAVRKA'S INVOLVEMENT

The Director, Tončo Bavrka, is directly involved in the disappearance of the Directorate's fuel reserves from the Zovko Oil warehouse. As stated in the CIN investigation, he did not use his legal options to stop the theft, nor did he inform certain investigative institutions about the loss of goods. Instead, while the fuel reserves were disappearing from the Žepče company's terminal, Bavrka was trying to convince the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) to accept a dubious plan to exchange the fuel debt for one of the terminals of the group within which "Zovko Oil" operates.

However, the leaders of the FBiH Government did not accept the plan. According to the then Minister of Finance, Ante Krajina, the terminal's value was overestimated, while the then Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić said that the FBiH did not need such a facility.

Nikšić stated that they gave the Directorate consent to negotiate the exchange of debt because they wanted to see what it was all about.

However, the more it was discussed, the deeper they delved, the more they discovered, the greater the malversations were revealed - says Nikšić.

The FBiH Government called on the Federal Administration for Inspection Affairs to inspect the goods in the warehouses used by the Directorate. Nikšić told CIN journalists that they ordered the inspection because they were receiving information that the Directorate's goods were not in the warehouses, even though they were registered. He added that they were not satisfied with the Directorate's inspections of goods.

In July 2012, the Directorate sued the company "Zovko Oil", but did not recover the damages.

Insolvency proceedings were opened at "Zovko Oil" at the beginning of last year. A portion of the claim for fuel amounting to 5.9 million BAM was recognized for the Directorate in the insolvency proceedings. However, there is little chance of recovering it. The assets of "Zovko Oil" are worth 14 million, while its debts are almost two and a half times higher.