Republika Srpska Vice President files criminal complaint over entity lobbying contract in the US

The complaint asks the Prosecutor’s Office to examine the legality of the actions of competent officials and responsible persons within the institutions of Republika Srpska who may have participated in decisions to engage the company and to allocate budget funds for these purposes.

According to publicly available information, RRB Strategies LLC was engaged to conduct lobbying and communication activities on behalf of the institutions of Republika Srpska in the United States. However, complete information about the legal basis for such an engagement, the procedure through which the financing decision was made, and the amount of funds that may have been allocated from the Republika Srpska budget is not publicly available.

"The public must know who made the decision to engage the company, based on which legal act that decision was made, whether the appropriate public procurement procedure or another legally prescribed procedure was carried out, what amount of budget funds was possibly paid, from which budget program or institution the funds were provided, and who signed the contracts and approved the payments. Is it possible that we all accept that this lobbying is happening and that the money for it is being secured from the budget, from the public treasury to which all citizens and taxpayers who live in this part of Bosnia and Herzegovina contribute equally? This cannot and will not pass," Durakovic said.

In the complaint, he stated that there are grounds for suspicion that certain officials or responsible persons may have abused their official position or authority if the budget funds of Republika Srpska were used without a transparent procedure and outside legal regulations.

The Prosecutor’s Office was asked to obtain all relevant documentation related to the engagement of RRB Strategies LLC, question responsible persons in the institutions of Republika Srpska, and, if necessary, obtain international documentation regarding the registration and activities of the company in the United States. Durakovic emphasized that the goal of filing the complaint is to establish the facts and the legality of the actions of the competent institutions.