Infrastructure for legalization of robbery of 51 million KM of FBIH citizens

Stable energy infrastructure financed by Elektroprenos BIH was best used by HDZ staff who, in the legal and institutional chaos created by SBB’s Boriša Misirača as director of the Renewable Energy and Efficient Cogeneration Operator, created a monopolistic position over dynamic quotas for solar power plants allocated outside of the legal framework, writing Točno.net.

In mid-2017, Dragan Čović and Matan Žarić put into operation TS 110 / x KV Čitluk 2 with a ceremonial ribbon cutting and symbolic keystroke. The value of the complete project was 5.4 million, and the construction work went to the consortium Dalekovod doo Mostar and Dalekovod dd Zagreb. Identical to the example of TS Šipovo, which tačno.net wrote about in the first part of the series, the official reasons for the construction are network congestion and proximity to the highway, and this facility is designed as a power point for energy facilities and the Ljubuški-Čitluk industrial zone.

At the ceremony on the occasion of the construction of TS Čitluk 2, 2017, Matan Žarić pointed out that in the area of Herzegovina, the expansion of TS Nevesinje, TS Ljubuški, TS Stolac, Uskoplje, Mostar 7 and the construction of TS Željuša are planned.

From this time distance, it is clear that energy investments and the stable energy network of Elektroprijenos BIH in Herzegovina have created the infrastructure for the mass construction of solar power plants whose owners are close to the HDZ BIH.

We asked Alaudin Alihodžić, Executive Director for Planning and Engineering, how Elektroprijenos BIH plans the development of the electricity distribution network, what is the justification for the construction of millions of KM worth of substations such as TS Šipova or TS Čitluk 2, and whether the owners of power plants of solar power plants or wind farms directly affect the investment plans of this company.

“Everything was done in accordance with the applicable laws, bylaws and internal acts of the Company.”  Colleagues from Žurnal wrote extensively about the mandate of Boriša Misirača as the director of the RES (Operator for Renewable Energy Sources and Efficient Cogeneration), which was marked by a series of irregularities.

Awarding of tender contracts as well as out-of-procedure employment are only a small segment of the observed irregularities and illegalities. The biggest legacy of Misirača in this position is the allocation of dynamic quotas for solar power plants outside the legal framework.

By the decision of the FBIH Government in November 2018, the APOEF (FBIH Action Plan for the Use of Renewable Energy Sources) was updated without any discussion, which increased the incentive-dynamic quotas for solar power plants by an additional 11 MW. We remind you that this update of the APOEF, which was done outside the law on the use of RES, was officially explained by the great interest of investors and the “unlimited potential of the sun”.

However, the increase of 11 MW of incentive-dynamic quotas for solar power plants was not enough for interested investors. In institutional chaos, amnestied and fully protected by the Federal Ministry of Energy and Mining (FMERI) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (FERK), the institution in charge of controlling the legality of the work of RESEIK Operators, Boriša Misirača, will voluntarily and completely illegally create its own para institution and allocate an additional 16 MW of incentive quotas.

It is also very important to emphasize that the competent line ministry was informed about the events in the Operator through the Reports of the Financial Police, various inspections, letters from the Board of Directors and letters from the Operator’s Union.

These allegations are confirmed by the findings of the financial control of the FBIH Audit Office, which was done after the FBIH Government dismissed Boriša Misirača from this position only after the expiration of his four-year mandate.

The analyzed work of OIEIEK in 2019 and 2020 showed a number of serious illegalities due to which the Office gave a double negative opinion on the operations of the Operator. Due to the mentioned illegalities, the federal auditors issued as many as 37 recommendations, of which the most significant are those concerning the illegal allocation of dynamic quotas.

The parliamentary hearing on this negative report brought closer to the public the financial consequences of illegally allocated incentive quotas during the term of office of the son of the late former HJPC Vice President and State Prosecutor Jadranka Lokmić-Misirača.

During this discussion, a member of the Parliamentary Audit Committee, Elvir Karajbić, pointed out that the FBiH Government and the line minister Nermin Džindić, who were informed about illegalities in their work in a timely and continuous manner, were directly involved in the secrecy and concealment of the illegal work of the RES-OPE Operator.

“The biggest crime was certainly noticed in the way that companies were introduced into the right to receive incentives outside the government’s action plan. 15.6 MW is encouraged by government decisions. In financial terms, this causes damage to the Federation of BiH in the amount of 51 million KM. Half of these funds will be paid by citizens through incentive fees paid in addition to the electricity bill. “

Due to irregularities in the work of Boriša Misirača, three criminal charges were filed with the competent Prosecutor’s Office of the Hercegovačko-Neretvanski Kanton (HNK) by OIEIEK employees. This institution did not answer the stage of the investigation, although the workers filed the first criminal complaint against Misirača in October 2019.

In early December 2020, after several announcements, the FBIH Government finally dismissed Boriša Misirača due to the expiration of his 4-year term and appointed Željko Doleček, former secretary of the Association of Renewable Energy Producers in BiH and HDZ candidate for local elections in Novo Sarajevo, to his position.

Along the way, the Government also dismissed the President of the Operator’s Board, Jasmin Lizda, and Ramiz Zajmović, who sent letters to Minister Džindić about illegalities, asking him to be dismissed for that reason. The only member of the Board that the Government will not remove will be Frano Glavaš. The Government of FBiH will appoint him as the new President of the Board of Operators for RES.

FERK did not consider the fact that Glavaš is an employee of Elektroprivreda Hrvatske zajednice Herceg Bosne, a conflict of interest, although the Operator sells electricity from renewable sources to suppliers, including the company in which he is employed.

In October this year, without much fanfare, the new director finally announced the list of privileged electricity producers, but not the allocated dynamic quotas, which is a legal obligation. Without the revision of illegally concluded contracts during Misirača’s mandate, this move by Željko Doleček opened the space for the legalization of the robbery of millions of KM worth of FBIH citizens’ money, which was operatively carried out by Misirača by illegally allocating non-existent quotas.

For more than a month, Željko Doleček refused to answer the questions asked by the Tačno.net portal. Although according to the Law on the Use of Renewable Sources, they are in charge of supervising the operations of the RES and Operators, FERK stressed that they could not comment on the findings of the FBIH Audit Office.

We did not receive a comment from the relevant ministry on the irregularities observed in the financial audit of the Operator for RES.

There is no majorization in dynamic quotas

The reasons for the administrative silence are best illustrated by mathematical calculations of fees to be paid to beneficiaries of 16.9 MW of illegally allocated incentive quotas for contracts signed during 2019 and 2020 after the APOEF allocated 23 MW.

The guarantee price for the purchase of electricity from solar plants is determined by FERK and these prices depend on the power of the solar power plant. Thus, according to the current prices, 7.17 million KM will be needed to finance 16.9 MW in one year. As these contracts were signed for a contractual period of 12 years, 85.4 million KM will be allocated for the financing of these power plants.

Out of the mentioned 85.4 million, a total of 51.1 million incentives come from fees paid by FBIH citizens. We would like to remind you that in the past 4 years, during the mandate of Boriša Misirača, the fee for renewable energy sources has increased by 500%.

In this context, the distribution of fees collected in the FBIH on the basis of charging electricity customers is also interesting. According to the report on the recapitulation of fees for financing renewable sources, 30 million KM  was collected this year, of which Elektroprivreda BIH collected about 76% of this amount from its customers, and Elektroprivreda HZHB slightly more than 20%.

However, unlike the collected funds, the distribution of these funds goes to the benefit of producers connected to the network of Elektroprivreda HZHB. Thus, 14.1 million KM (77%) was paid to the producers who are in the system of this electric power industry for incentives, while 4.2 million KM (23%) was paid to the producers on the network of the Electric Power Industry of BiH on this basis.

Stone, karst and solar: GP Toming

The finally published register of privileged producers reveals the strong monopolistic position of GP Toming Grude over incentives for solar power plants.

Miro Tomas, the HVO wartime commander and member of HVIDRA, created his multimillion-dollar empire after the war in BiH on construction work in Herzegovina. According to media reports and the official report of the former interim manager of Hercegovačka Banka, Toby Robinson, GP Toming was involved in the initial transfer of shares from the Zapadno Hercegovački Kanton to private companies that paid for their Hercegovačka Banka shares by building for the canton.

We remind you that the Hercegovačka Banka affair revealed the way in which the then HDZ leadership damaged the state budget of the Republic of Croatia by more than a billion kuna and revealed the model of functioning of this party. One of the leaders of the unrest and the organizers of the roadblock that occurred in Herzegovina, more precisely in Grude after the High Representative sent SFOR forces to the bank and appointed a temporary manager, was the owner of GP Toming, Miro Tomas. Tomas will use his own construction machinery for this blockade on the streets of Grude.

Today, Miro Tomas, a prominent hotelier and owner of exclusive facilities on the Adriatic coast, bases his business strategy in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the construction and production of subsidized electricity from solar power plants.

According to the data available on the OIEiEK Operator’s website, GP Toming now has as many as 43 solar power plants. Of these solar power plants, a total of 39 have individual power of 150kW, while 4 solar power plants are owned by Miro Tomas with individual power of 1MW. The 43 solar power plants, a successful former HVO wartime commander, have a total installed capacity of 9.85MW. All these power plants are in the system of incentives, with the money paid by the citizens of the Federation of BiH along with the electricity bills.

According to the published reports of RES Operators on the website and FERK’s guaranteed prices that were valid at the time of awarding the contract, but which do not change when the 12-year contract is awarded, these 43 solar power plants owned by Toming generate revenue in just one year from sales between 4.6 and 4.8 million KM.

In the 12 years that these lucrative contracts have been signed, Toming will earn more than 56 million KM on this basis. Out of a total of 23 MW allocated by APOEF for solar power plants, solar power plants owned by Miro Tomas, owner of Toming, account for almost 10 MW. According to available data on Operator’s website, Toming’s 4 solar power plants of 1 MW each received pre-contracts or dynamic quotas, only in September 2020 during the time of Boriša Misirača, although at that time all dynamic quotas had long been used up.

Toming declined to comment on the award of the contract during this period. According to available data, in the period after the legal 23 MW dynamic quotas were distributed, 194 solar plants were awarded contracts. Approximately 85.4 million KM will be allocated for the financing of contracts signed during the mandate of Boriša Misirača.

Mato Matan Žarić, the management of Dalekovod Mostar, Željko Doleček, the current director of OIEIEK, Boriša Misirača and the management of GP Toming refused to speak for the Tačno.net portal. Until the publication of the text, our written inquiries were not answered by: Elektroprenos BIH, Elektroprivreda HZHB, the Prosecutor’s Office of HNK and the Federal Ministry of Energy and Mining. If their answers reach our address, we will be happy to publish them.