Public hearings for 9 institutions in FBiH were held in May 2016 by the Parliamentary Commission authorized for audit in FBiH.
After the performed audit of institutions in 2014, there was a hearing organized for the institutions in reference to the realization of recommendations acquired from the Auditing Office of FBiH. All the participating institutions were evaluated by the Auditing Office and they were given a “reserved opinion”.
The Public Firm FBiH Roads was awarded with 9 qualifications in the audit report. The Director of the FBiH Roads stated that their firm was a business association, but that they also collect public income which is not in accordance with the international accounting standards. The problem for this firm is that their baseline law on the roads is not coordinated with the international accounting standards (IAS) and they cannot abide them therefore, since the firm first follows the domestic laws (legislative) and then the IAS.
The Director of the firm d.d. “Sarajevoputevi” stated that their firm was not a budget user but that they perform business in the market. She also stated that their status had not been solved yet, despite the fact that the Management filed the acts to the founder, i.e. the FBiH Government. They also have no assembly until the Government decides to call one. Representatives of the Auditing Office corrected the Director and stated that “Sarajevoputevi” is not a shareholding association, but a public firm since FBiH owns 73% of the shares and the valid regulation states that a firm is public if FBiH owns 50% +1 of its shares. The attitude of the Commission was to evaluate the firm with a negative opinion.
The Director of the Institute for Health Insurance and Reinsurance briefly stated that they were improving their internal controls and that they have been audited on an annual basis. This Firm was awarded with a positive opinion and the members of the Commission believe that this is an Institute that can serve as an example of good business management and work to other institutes and firms.
The Director of the Public Company Roads in FBiH d.o.o. Mostar stated that they filed a request to voluntarily be included in the VAT system from January 2011 because the Law stipulates that when a firm exceeds the turnover threshold of 50,000 BAM, the Indirect Tax Administration (ITA) has to, in accordance with the official duty, register the firm in the VAT system. This firm has achieved a turnover of 700,000 BAM since the first month, and they believe they should have been entered in the system. However, the ITA delivered their decision that they were not taxpayers since the toll road is not taxable according to the law.
DD Roads Mostar was awarded a reserved opinion and the MPs believe that this firm should have been given a negative opinion since the association failed to follow the law. Still, it was impossible to quantify the damage for the association, so they decided to give a reserved opinion. Since business management has been improved in 2014, it was a basis to award this type of opinion. MP Muhamed Kozadra ordered for the Ministry of Traffic and Communication to be included in the matter.
Economic Society for production and transport of gas “BH Gas” d.o.o. booked out 29 million BAM from their balance without having acquired consent from the Management first. The Director of the firm stated that the problem was the Zenica-Travnik gas-line, the study of justification of which was completed in 2005, and which was build 5 years later. No audit of the study was performed and in the meantime certain business subjects closed down in the area and its construction has never been justified. During the construction, there were many irregularities: the gas-line was not placed at a proper depth, it almost has no markings, the land was not returned to its previous state, no access roads were built, construction records were never kept in accordance with the building regulations of FBiH etc. The firm filed appeals against people in BH Gas at the Cantonal Police Administration and the procedure is in legislative. Also, protesting (charging for) the guarantee at the Unicredit Bank in Zagreb was initiated, but the Court of Republic of Croatia stopped the process since, as they stated, there were no valid reasons to charge for the guarantee.
The Director of the Agency for Privatization of FBiH stated that the sales of firms is conducted according to the plan of the Government of FBiH. He emphasized that the Agency is involved in court proceedings amounting to 351 million BAM and that the Agency is always the first and the second to be sued because it is easier to charge lawsuits from the Agency, but that they have permanently hired lawyers in charge of these proceedings.
A representative of the Federal Pension and Disability Insurance Institute (PIO/MIO) stated that they were awarded with a reserved opinion due to the lack of funds and added that they as the Institute could not have influenced the situation. MP Amer Zuljevi? stated that he would emphasize in the conclusions that there are plenty of topics to be resolved in order to avoid problems in developing the final report of PIO/MIO. The PIO/MIO representative underlined that they owe funds for contributions but that they had to draw the line and start paying their debts.
MP Aner Zuljevi? suggested for the matters that they as the Commission could try and resolve for the benefit of the situation to be delivered in writing.
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