Transparency International in BiH (TI BiH) won a court case against the RS Concessions Commission for refusing to disclose information from the proceedings in which Elektroprivreda RS (ERS) transferred the concession for the construction of a solar power plant worth about 100 million KM to the company “SE Trebinje 1”. This company, which had no income last year, could not take over the concession without clear evidence of professional and technical equipment, experience in carrying out similar projects, and secured financial resources for this project, all of which the Commission was required to establish but now refuses to provide to the public.
In response to TI BiH last year, the Commission claimed that all conditions stipulated by the regulation governing the concession transfer process were met.
-After reviewing the mentioned documentation and particularly the financial status of the acquirer, the Commission concluded that the acquirer meets all the conditions for taking over the concession agreement, that the mentioned company has the financial resources necessary for the realization of the agreement, and gave consent to the transfer of the Agreement from the previous concessionaire MH “Elektroprivreda RS” parent company a.d, to the business entity “SE Trebinje 1”, states the Commission’s response delivered to TI BiH in July last year.
However, the Commission refused to provide evidence from this procedure to TI BiH, justifying everything with the confidential commercial interests of the company “SE Trebinje 1”. The Banja Luka District Court ruling indicated that the public must be informed about the work of public bodies, as they cannot be isolated from public scrutiny.
-The defendant (Commission) readily accepted the reasons of the third party SE Trebinje 1 and practically incorporated them into the explanation of the contested act, even though the requested information certainly does not, in certain parts, constitute nor can constitute confidential commercial interests that need to be protected, states the explanation of the verdict.
Through this company, established by Elektroprivreda RS, Hungarian Lugos Renewables ultimately obtained the concession for this project without any public bidding, as they were granted 70% ownership of “SE Trebinje 1” under conditions that ERS also keeps hidden from the public, which is why TI BiH is conducting a separate administrative procedure against this public company.
According to TI BiH, the legal obligation to conduct a public bidding for the concession award in this case could not be bypassed in this manner and a foreign investor introduced through a public company, as the Concessions Commission had to determine why Elektroprivreda RS “for economic, technical, or other reasons” could not realize this project, but its newly established company “SE Trebinje 1” could.
The issue is that the RS Government granted this concession without issuing a public call, by using the legal option to award it to ERS through a negotiation process, as it is a company performing an activity of general interest. According to the initial agreement, the entire power plant was supposed to be operational by October this year. However, ERS clearly did not intend to carry out this project, as it soon established a new company, transferred the concession to it, and then handed it over to the Hungarian investor.
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