KS Prosecutor's Office Silent on Kovačević's Actions: Four BH Telecom Regional Directors Operating as 'Contract Workers'

Four directors of BH Telecom's regional directorates (RD) will perform directorial duties based on service contracts, without formal employment. The reason – BH Telecom General Director Amel Kovačević has not announced a competition for the directorial positions in the Brčko, Travnik, Banja Luka, and Goražde RDs, writes Istraga.ba.

As the six-month “probationary” period for the directors of these four RDs expired in mid-August, and these individuals were not employees of BH Telecom at the time of their appointment, they cannot now remain employed without a competition being announced. However, SDP, NiP, and Naša stranka insisted on these personnel, so Kovačević decided that these individuals would manage the directorates in Brčko, Goražde, Travnik, and Banja Luka, but based on service contracts.

It all began in February this year when the current acting management of BH Telecom made a decision to “hire on a fixed-term basis, without a probationary period, for a duration of up to six months for the positions of – Director of Travnik Directorate, Director of Goražde Directorate, and Director of Banja Luka Directorate."

A few days later, a competition was also announced for the director of the Brčko Regional Directorate.

Thus, literally off the street, Srđan Jovanović, a cadre of Vojin Mijatović and a member of the SDP Banja Luka City Board, was appointed director of the BH Telecom Regional Directorate. Senad Hubjer, a cadre of Naša stranka, became the Director of the Goražde Regional Directorate, while Samir Čurić, a cadre of NiP who was on the party's list for the BiH Parliament in 2022, was appointed director of the Travnik Regional Directorate. Amir Trobradović, former head of PDA in Brčko, was appointed director of the directorate in that city.

In August this year, their mandates expired, and General Director Amel Kovačević had to terminate their employment contracts. However, under political pressure, he had to bring these four directors back to BH Telecom, so he offered them service contracts. Some of these directors, after signing the service contracts, registered with the tax authorities, but General Director Kovačević ordered them to deregister. Thus, the four directors of the Regional Directorates now do not have formal employment, but they perform directorial duties at BH Telecom. Furthermore, as “external associates,” they have the rights and authority to manage the directorates.

According to Istraga's information, Kovačević decided to deregister them to avoid a similar fate as the directors of the Federation Terminals, who were first arrested and then removed from duty due to a ban on performing their duties, because they retained employees who were on probation without announcing a competition after their six-month probationary period.

According to auditors' opinions, service contracts can be concluded for the performance of tasks not foreseen in the job systematization. The positions of regional directors are foreseen, so regardless of the fact that he did not register the four directors as employees, Amel Kovačević has committed an offense identical to the one committed by Hermedin Zornić and Slaven Zeljko.

In their case, the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office reacted promptly. First, they were arrested, then measures prohibiting them from performing directorial duties were imposed. Then they were dismissed from their positions. Will NiP cadre Amel Kovačević, like most of the Trojka cadres, have preferential treatment in the BiH judiciary?