In December 2022, the prosecutor’s office of Bosnia and Herzegovina filed an indictment against Mato Žarić, the general director of the public company Elektroprijenos-Elektroprenos BiH, and four other company employees for abuse of position or authority for allegedly causing damage to the company to the amount of KM455,000 BAM (app. €230,000). The court of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued a first-instance verdict in February 2024, acquitting the accused of all charges.

The case involving five accused employees of the public enterprise Elektroprijenos-Elektroprenos BiH revolves around their actions between April 2015 and August 2018, resulting in allegedly securing financial benefit to the private company Elektroobnova at the expense of the public company Elektroprijenos-Elektroprenos BiH. According to the indictment, Elektroobnova was awarded a tender in 2015 to construct a transformer station in Šipovo. The contract stipulated the deadline to finish the works, as well as penalties for the contractor in case of delays.

Despite failures to finish the project in time, Elektroobnova suffered no financial penalties. According to the indictment, Mato Žarić, serving as the general director of Elektroprenos BiH, was accused of failing to collect a contractual penalty as per an agreement. Drago Malešević, as manager of the commercial affairs department, was alleged to have not calculated the contractual penalty, while Zoran Manojlović failed to properly document the claim and to forward it for further action and collection. Aleksandar Šukalo, in his capacity as a manager, was charged with not bringing to the attention of the executive director for finance the non-compliance with contractual obligations of the selected contractor, while Mila Bule, as the executive director for finance, was accused of neglecting to inform the general director about delays in contract implementation and the possibility of activating a bank guarantee.

During the trial, the prosecution submitted over 100 pieces of material evidence related to the tender’s documentation about the construction of transformer station in Šipovo, which pointed to delays in contract implementation.

On 21 February 2024, the court of Bosnia and Herzegovina delivered a first-instance verdict, acquitting the accused of the charges due to the lack of evidence. As this verdict is not legally-binding, the case is currently subject to appeal and further investigation to gather evidence for presentation by the prosecution.

Therefore, the final outcome of the case still remains uncertain. As the case in question involves a public enterprise, its development is of public interest and a matter of continuous discussion in terms of social and political affairs within the country.