Perpetual acting director Đenan Salčin wants to officially become director of the Public Procurement Agency

A. Čorbo-Zećo

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The Public Procurement Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina is still managed by the perpetual acting director Đenan Salčin, who was appointed to this position by the SBB. We say perpetual because he came to this acting position from the FBiH Motorways, where he also served as acting executive director.

It will be remembered that in 2017 he did not meet the conditions to be appointed as acting director, and as we unofficially learn, he has again applied for the competition for the position of director of this Agency. The competition procedure has been completed and it is awaited that the Council of Ministers appoints a Commission that would finish the job regarding the appointment. Allegedly, along with Salčin's application, one more application arrived for this position.

However, Salčin is associated with scandals that could ultimately end up in the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to media reports, he found himself among those who, by abusing leadership positions, "plundered" EU funds, and were involved in laundering huge amounts of money that are implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina through IPA projects and projects carried out by BiH institutions.

The current coordinator of public administration reform in BiH, Dragan Ćuzulan, who is known to the public in the Republika Srpska as the former general secretary and vice-president of the SDS, is also, according to media reports, part of that structure.
Ćuzulan was appointed to the position of coordinator of public administration reform in BiH at the end of August 2015, on the proposal of former BiH Prime Minister Denis Zvizdić.

One of the projects they implemented is 'Capacity building for the fight against corruption in the structures of the state service of BiH' and it is worth a mere 397,000 KM, excluding VAT.
The IPA project "Strengthening the public procurement system in BiH" was also mentioned.

"It is a project of the European Commission, whose purpose is allegedly to strengthen the capacity of officials in the public procurement process at all levels of government, as well as to improve and modernize the legislative framework of the public procurement system. The contract for the implementation of this project, which should last until February 2021, was awarded to an international consortium led by the Greek consulting company 'Planet S.A.', in cooperation with the companies 'Vortal' and 'Imorgon'."

However, as the main beneficiary of the project is the Public Procurement Agency of BiH, the only domestic consulting firm appearing in the implementation of the project is the company of Muamer Muftić. It is important to note that this is a common practice according to which Salčin awards consulting jobs in the implementation of large projects to Muftić's company," the text emphasizes.

Even after the indictment against Dragan Mektić and others related to IPA funds, the European Commission, as the main financier of the projects, will demand additional oversight and investigations.