Page 16 - EurOil Week 32

EurOil POLICY EurOil

Bosnia to sue INA over bad

investment

BOSNIA THE government of Bosnia & Herzegovina’s MOL-INA took a total of €76.5mn in mortgages.
Muslim-Croat Federation plans to file a lawsuit In 2014, Sarajevo prosecutors probed the
The dispute has run on against the Croatian oil company INA in a dis- privatisation contract with MOL-INA and
for several years. pute that has lasted several years over investment accused Nedzad Brankovic, former prime min-
the Croatian company had to make after acquir- ister of Bosnia’s bigger entity the Muslim-Croat
ing a majority stake in its Bosnian peer, Indika- Federation, along with eight other top state and
tor.ba reported on August 5. company officials of causing harm to the state
A consortium of INA and Hungarian MOL by signing the contract at a lower sale price.
acquired a 67% stake in Energopetrol in 2007, According to reports in the Bosnian media,
pledging to invest BAM150mn (€77mn) and to the prosecution then claimed that the nine had
pay a BAM60mn outstanding debt. caused damages worth more than BAM32mn
However, there was a dispute between the to Energopetrol, the Federation and Sarajevo
government and the buyer over whether the total Canton.
investment was made. Five years earlier, Mustafa Mujezinovic, then
INA-MOL filed a lawsuit against Bosnia sev- prime minister of the Federation, had threatened
eral years ago at the International Arbitration that the contract with MOL-INA on the sale of
Institution. The consortium has claimed the Energopetrol would be cancelled. Mujezinovic
government must pay for the lawsuits filed by said at the time that the consortium had not ful-
Energopetrol’s former workers for compensa- filled its obligations.
tions worth BAM64mn. Hernadi has been charged in Croatia with
In July 2016, MOL sold its 33.5% stake in bribing former prime minister Ivo Sanader to
Energopetrol to INA for an undisclosed sum. help MOL obtain a dominant position in Cro-
The sale deal was marred by scandals in the atian oil and gas company INA. Both MOL
following years. In September 2016, the Sarajevo and the Hungarian government, which holds
Canton Prosecutor’s Office launched a probe a 24.6% stake in MOL, have so far denied any
against Zsolt Hernadi, then CEO of MOL, and involvement in the alleged bribery.
two other senior managers of MOL and INA In October 2013, Croatia asked Interpol to
over the privatisation of Energopetrol. issue an international warrant for Hernadi’s
The investigation was launched as minority arrest, after Sanader was sentenced to prison
shareholders were suspecting that the €76.7mn for bribe taking. However, it was withdrawn in
investment was funded with mortgages on Ener- February 2014, following the Hungarian execu-
gopetrol’s property. According to a complaint tive’s complaint. In February 2015, Croatia asked
filed in 2010 with the Sarajevo prosecution, Interpol to re-issue the arrest warrant. ™

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 32 12•August•2020