Where will 70 million KM from OdRaz end up?

By the week's end, BH federal government will have decided who gets to 'inherit' the revolving fund of the former government's foundation for sustainable development (ODRAZ), which is expected to have increased up to 70 million KM this year.

HDZ BiH initially requested that the monies from the Fund are allocated to them to manage i.e. that federal finance ministry headed by Jelka Milicevic (HDZ) manages the fund.

Some ministers from other parties proposed that Union bank owned by Federation BiH takes over the fund, which would give it back its original purpose and raison d'etre – development of small and middle enterprises.

According to our sources, not one of these proposals have been accepted so the money is likely to end up in the federal budget.

- It is not a good idea to pay the money to the budget simply because it will be used for patching up budgetary holes. It is equally bad idea to let any ministry manage this multimillion fund. The best solution is to allow the Union bank to manage the fund so that those 70-ish million can be utilized for development of small and middle enterprises, our source says.

Founded in 2001, OdRaz was an important foundation of the Federal government. Its scope of work included implementation of projects in various municipalities across FBiH funded by the World Bank and other international institutions. Most of the projects included financing infrastructural projects that were of great importance to the local community, and providing support through loans for SME.

Ever since Vinko Jakic sat at director's seat of OdRaz in 2013, the Foundation started to erode with numerous projects being stopped or closed down. Rumor has it that Jakic made numerous criminal acts, including serious multiple breach of duty, which eventually brought the foundation to its knees.

The government closed OdRaz at the end of April. It remains unclear who will take over its multimillion fund.