Despite the Atlantik affair, it prints ballots again, BiH parliamentarians will seek a debate on this!

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - After completing the procedure for selecting the most favorable bidder through an international tender and open procedure, the Central Election Commission made a decision to award the job of printing and packaging ballots for the 2018 general elections to a group of bidders. 

- The representative of the group of bidders is the company ATLANTIK BB d.o.o. with its headquarters in Banja Luka, and the members of the group of bidders are also IGEPA d.o.o. Sarajevo, NIGD ''Dnevne nezavisne novine'' d.o.o. Banja Luka, ''Grafomark'' d.o.o. Laktaši, JU ''Službeni glasnik'' RS Banja Luka and ''Farma prom'' d.o.o. Banja Luka - they said in the CEC for Patria.

The total value of the Contract is 1,160,500.77 KM including VAT. Incidentally, Atlantik from Banja Luka has been printing ballots for both General and Local Elections since 2012, either alone or in a corporation with other companies. The total value of these contracts, including this latest one, is 3,646,658 KM.

Atlantik is involved in the affair that shook the CEC, after concealing a conflict of interest report that the former president of the Appeals Review Office enabled the company Atlantik to print ballots for the 2014 general elections.

CEC members were also questioned by SIPA for covering up Ostoja Kremenović's manipulation of ballots. Kremenović was a minister in the first government of Milorad Dodik, and the company Atlantik, which won the ballot printing job, is close to the SNSD.

As the media reported, CEC members were questioned because there are suspicions that one of them kept in a drawer a conflict of interest report against Ostoja Kremenović, the former president and member of the Appeals Review Office of the BiH Public Procurement Agency. 

Everything happened in 2011, when a conflict of interest report was filed against Kremenović. The CEC never put that report into procedure.

Three years later, Ostoja Kremenović played a key role in ensuring that the company Atlantik, close to the SNSD, won the job of printing ballots for the 2014 general elections. 

Deputies of the Serbian Democratic Party will raise this case in the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, because within the agenda item Information on the current position, assessment of readiness and ability of the Central Election Commission of BiH (CECBiH) to organize and conduct fair elections in October 2018, they will seek all details about this procurement and the award of the job to Atlantik.