The liberal Nasa Stranka (NS) party is gathering MP signatures for a motion of no confidence to the current government of Bosnia’s Federation (FBiH) region, after the FBiH Prime Minister and the former head of the Civil Protection Authority were named suspects in the investigation into a controversial government deal which involved the procurement of overpriced ventilators that are unfit for treating COVID-19, NS’s Sabina Cudic told N1 on Monday.
Cudic said that FBiH is “entering a time of crisis with an ineffective government.”
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“Here we are speaking of political responsibility for the crisis. When you create it with potential crimes or reckless activities with the money of Bosnian citizens, then one would expect you to withdraw in a modern democracy, but this is not happening here,” she said.
“We have initiated the gathering of signatures for a motion of no confidence for the entire FBiH Government because there are court restrictions and the Prime Minister is unable to communicate with the finance minister and the head of the Civil Protection Authority while his legal representative is a member (of the group) and participated in all the controversial public procurements,” she said
.Prosecutors named FBiH PM, Fadil Novalic, the entity’s former head of the Civil Protection Authority, Fahrudin Solak, and the owner of a company from the eastern town of Srebrenica, Fikret Hodzic, suspects after police questioned them on Friday in connection with the purchase of 100 ventilators from China by the company that runs a raspberry farm with no history in dealing with medical equipment.
The fact that a 10.5 million Bosnian Mark (some 5.3 million Euro) government contract was granted to Srebrena Malina sparked outrage in the semi-autonomous Bosnian region.
According to prosecutors, experts found that the ventilators “did not even meet the minimum characteristics necessary for the adequate treatment of patients in intensive care units, among which are COVID-19 patients.”
“I believe we are experiencing a difficult moment – a global pandemic, the state of disaster was just lifted, we have court proceedings against top officials in FBiH and what is worse, we have activities by one of the main parties, which is pressuring state institutions with its conclusions,” she said, referring to the Party for Democratic Action (SDA), which Novalic is a member of.
SDA leader, Bakir Izetbegovic, said that the arrest of Novalic was part of “a continuous attack on Bosniaks” by the State Prosecutor’s Office and argued that it is an attempt for the main Croat party, the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH), to take over.
Cudic argued that the SDA is currently mirroring the rhetoric of Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik by attacking institutions, only to save some of its officials, adding that “this is in the long-term a devastating policy.”
“We are entering a deeper phase of the crisis which was not caused with the arrest, but with the reactions to it,” she said.
Allegations that the idea behind the arrest is an attempt for the HDZ BiH to take over do not make sense but only cause destabilisation, she argued.
“I must admit that after two years I’ve spent in the House of Representatives, I’ve never seen a more successful and cordial coalition between two parties than the one between the HDZ and the SDA. They never raised the issues of illegal activities in institutions they run. We have a fake crisis which will cause a real crisis within institutions,” she said.
Cudic also argued that the FBiH Civil Protection Authority has been operating illegally for six years since their last audit was in 2014.
The institution is also unable to respond to crises since they have o money for it.
“This public procurement procedure has drawn attention because it could have had the most tragic result for our family members or us if we were to be hooked up to inadequate ventilators, which could have resulted in death,” she said.
