A representative in Bosnia’s House of Representatives Sasa Magazinovic commented on his X account on the procurement of arms and police equipment for state security agencies in BiH, saying that the process has been obstructed for a long time.

Referring to this months-long problem, Magazinovic explained how and why the entire procedure is being obstructed.

“The procurement of arms and police equipment for state security agencies has been obstructed for 7 months. How? Via complaints with the obvious intention of stopping the process. Why is it claimed to be the intention? Because the complaining companies don’t pay the legal fee, which is the reason for the appeal to be rejected, but each complaint wastes considerable time”, Magazinovic said.

He pointed out that, according to the information from the Police Support Agency, the appeal is filed by different companies owned by the same person, in this case.

“As a member of parliament dealing with the issue of ‘professional complainants’ in the process of public procurement, I was informed about all this by director Enver Hadziahmetovic and his associates. The arms and equipment that are the subject of procurement are intended for SIPA, the Border Police and the Directorate for the Coordination of Police Bodies. Since the Police Support Agency states that in this case there are indications of a possible threat to the security interests of Bosnia and Herzegovina, they are taking appropriate steps towards the Institutions of BiH”, he added.

He pointed out that this is just one of the examples of how procurements in the public procurement process are stopped by abusing the right to appeal.

“The good news is that a serious team of people from different institutions is working on a solution to this ubiquitous problem, but also on documenting cases of abuse. If one company complains 365 times a year, one complaint every day, then that is enough of an alarm for the state to react. We’ve had enough racketeering and stopping of purchases for various reasons,” said Magazinovic.