At the Supreme Court of FBiH, the Special Department for Corruption, Organized and Inter-Cantonal Crime, the proceedings in the case ‘Denijal Tulumović et al’ continue. The defendants are charged with abuse of official powers, influence on procedures for public procurement of medical equipment, obtaining property benefits and damage to UKC Tuzla.
Following this case at the Supreme Court of FBiH, Dnevni list already stated that it is a big challenge – both for the judge of the Special Department of the Supreme Court of FBiH, Željko Reza, and for the prosecutor Samir Selimović as well as for the defense of the five defendants – lawyer Mirna Alibegović for med. sci. Denijala Tulumović, former acting director of the Public Health Institution University Clinical Center Tuzla; lawyers Nada Dalipagić and Goran Crnjac from the Dalipagić-Crnjac Law Office for Marko Tadić, the founder and owner of the economic company INEL-MED doo Mostar; attorney Damir Alić for Šefik Husić, assistant director of the JZU UKC Tuzla for nursing; lawyer Adna Dobojlić for Senada Hujdurović, director of the Private Health Institution General and Special Hospital ‘Plava Medical Group’ Tuzla; and Džemal Hujdurović, legal representative for the Private Health Institution General and Special Hospital ‘Plava Medical Group’ Tuzla, as a legal entity.
Perhaps this case will end up at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Doubts
The issue of favoritism in public procurement in BiH is under special focus in the fight against crime. However, as Dnevni list wrote earlier, this procedure also opened up many other issues – technical (in)correctness and obsolescence of medical equipment in health institutions, which undoubtedly affects the timely and effective treatment of life-threatening patients.
Furthermore, a number of other doubts arise, such as the question of the procedure itself in public procurement, which is often lengthy due to the right to appeal of tender participants who are not satisfied with the results or do not meet the conditions of the tender, but decide to appeal anyway and further delay. Here is also the issue of mutual cooperation between public and private medical institutions, with the aim of faster and more effective provision of medical services.
There is also a very sensitive, ethical question – can the decision to send life-threatening patients from a public medical institution to a private medical institution be called an abuse because, specifically, UKC Tuzla did not have high-tech medical devices for the treatment of cancer patients?
Or that such life-threatening patients are left to wait until the tender is finally completed and the necessary medical device is procured, even though doctors know that timely therapy and treatment increases the chances of life?
Ethical issues and obsolete medical devices
Worst of all, there is also the question of the effectiveness and even possible harm of outdated and defective devices used during treatment.
This issue is emphasized after the testimony of the Prosecution’s witness, medical physicist Senada Kalabić, who confirmed that there were two linear accelerators at UKC Tuzla, one defective and the other constantly breaking down, so that it too, due to its obsolescence and malfunction, would be sealed in February 2023 by the State Regulatory Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety. Until then, seriously ill oncology patients were treated there (!).
– The therapy was carried out until its use was prohibited, confirmed Kalabić who, together with her colleagues from UKC, within her professional capabilities, participated in the development of technical specifications for the procurement of new devices.
All this pointed to the urgent need to purchase modern devices. In the meantime, the management of UKC Tuzla was forced to refer patients for treatment to other health institutions. Now they are on trial, as well as private institutions that provided medical treatment to patients.
The thesis, indictment, of the Prosecutor’s Office is that it is an abuse of power, favoritism and procrastination in connection with public procurements and damage to UKC Tuzla due to sending seriously ill patients to private medical institutions for treatment because that public institution did not have medical equipment for the necessary medical treatment. However, the defense also has an almost identical thesis, but according to one of the actors of the tender, whose offer was canceled due to non-fulfillment of the conditions. They consider this a conscious manipulation and delay of the procedure and abuse of the right to appeal, which reveals a completely different angle of observation of the whole case.
It seems that the case of ‘Denijal Tulumović’ could be a turning point when it comes to these serious doubts, because too often there is an impression of the so-called “flat mirror” – an apparent, virtual reflection of the real state. It remains to be seen whether this indictment will be an exemplary example of how similar cases will be treated significantly differently in the future.
Dnevni list reminds again that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the courts of the European Union (EU) have ruled on the violation of rights on several occasions due to the use of legal remedies with the aim of creating obstruction and delaying the procedure.
Indictment
Let us remind you that on January 16, the Special Department for Corruption, Organized and Intercantonal Crime of the Supreme Court of FBiH confirmed the indictment of the Special Department of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office FBIH, brought against several persons and one legal entity for, according to the indictment of the Prosecutor’s Office, an act of abuse of position or authority.
Denijal Tulumović, former acting director of the Public Health Institution University Clinical Center Tuzla, is charged with the indictment; Marko Tadić, founder and owner of the economic company INEL-MED doo Mostar; Šefik Husić, assistant director of JZU UKC Tuzla for nursing, Senada Hujdurović, director of the Private Health Institution General and Special Hospital ‘Plava Medical Group’ Tuzla; Private health institution General and Special Hospital ‘Plava Medical Group’ Tuzla, as a legal entity.
The defendants Denijal Tulumović, Marko Tadić and Šefik Husić are accused of illegally influencing the procedures for the public procurement of medical equipment of high financial value in the period from 2022 to 2025, by abuse of official authority and by mutual agreement, namely the procurement of a linear accelerator and accompanying equipment for the needs of a public health institution, the estimated value of which was KM 8,547,008.55 without VAT, with the aim of favoring the bidder INEL-MED doo Mostar and limiting competition.
It is also stated that as a result of such actions, public procurement procedures were canceled several times after complaints by another bidder, which led to a multi-year delay in the procurement of necessary medical equipment.
As stated in the Prosecution’s explanation, because of this, JZU UKC Tuzla was not able to ensure the continuity of radiotherapy treatment in a timely manner, as a result of which oncology patients were referred for treatment to other health institutions in BiH and abroad, with the extension of the waiting time for radiotherapy, which increased the health risk and endangered the lives of patients, as well as additional financial and psychosocial consequences for patients and their families.
Furthermore, the indictment accuses Denijal Tulumović and Senada Hujdurović of concluding a business cooperation agreement between JZU UKC Tuzla and a private health institution in violation of applicable regulations in January 2023, by which the private health institution General and Special Hospital “Plava Medical Group” Tuzla obtained illegal property benefits in the amount of more than 128,000 KM, while at the same time property damage was caused to the University Clinical Center Tuzla.
But it seems that the whole case, for now, is going in the wrong direction – for the prosecution.
Conspiracy theories or…?
After the opening of the tender for the procurement of the necessary medical devices in October 2023, two suppliers – Siemens and Inel-Med with a group of bidders – apply. In the further procedure, the offer of Siemens Medicine doo was excluded because it did not meet the conditions – it did not submit a mandatory bank guarantee, which was one of the mandatory conditions in the tender, and the offer of another bidder was accepted. Failure to meet the conditions was sufficient reason for the exclusion of one supplier.
However, Siemens Medicina doo Sarajevo, despite not submitting the bank guarantee specified in the tender, is complaining about the decision on the selection because it believes that it favors Inel-Med, which delays and cancels the procedure. It is worth recalling one of the most impressive statements of the witness of the prosecution, the acting head of the Procurement Service of the UKC Tuzla, B.Sc. lawyer Kadrija Mešić.
-Inquiries from the bidder Siemens Medicina came successively, one after the other, usually at the end of the working week or on holidays, and all were answered by the Commission. The behavior of people from Siemens was arrogant, incomprehensible. They wanted to adjust the terms of the tender at their discretion. During the entire procedure, they adjusted the technical specifications to Siemens’ requirements, which all contributed to the delay and prolongation of the procedure and the prolongation of the agony, Mešić confirmed.
With his testimony, he refuted the thesis of the prosecution and, as a prosecution witness, seriously questioned Siemens Medicina, one of the actors that competed for the tender, but was not selected due to non-fulfillment of the conditions, but later appealed, which significantly slowed down the proceedings. But Siemens Medicina is not among the defendants, which makes this case even more interesting. It would be too harsh to say that everything resembles a top crime blockbuster about conspiracy theories.
Namely, in the continuation of the hearing, prosecution witness Jasmina Sarajlić Halilović, employed at UC Tuzla in the Procurement Service, and who during the disputed period worked as a secretary in public procurement commissions, confirmed that she does not know the accused Marko Tadić personally and that she has no knowledge that the accused Denijal Tulumović put pressure on any of the members of the commission.
But it doesn’t end there. And the next tender from May 2025 ends similarly. Bidders Inel-Med and MSG doo Tuzla, a newly founded company with three employees who compete with Varian-Siemens products, instead of Siemens Medicine, are applying. MSG’s offer is also rejected because it does not meet the technical requirements of the requested devices from the tender. And here the MSG complains to the Appeals Review Office, which does not consider it.
In October 2024, several thousand people protested in Tuzla, rightly demanding that UKC provide radiotherapy for cancer patients, and certain media, reporting on this case, reported the draconian claim that “due to the delay and rigging of the tender, many patients died”.
Defense: Unfulfilled conditions from the tender
All the defendants in this case exclusively believe that they are not guilty, insisting that there was no favoritism to Inel-Med, that Siemens Medicine’s offer was rejected due to the fact that it did not meet the conditions of the tender – a bank guarantee was not provided as requested by the tender documentation, as well as that this fact was hushed up in their statement before the Ministry of Interior of Tuzla Canton, despite the legal obligation that known facts must not be hushed up. It is already clear that the testimony of the representative of Siemens Medicine, which is expected, will be very interesting.
Namely, the testimony of the witness of the Prosecution, Amir Obraić, the financial director of Siemens Medicine doo Sarajevo, and the witnesses Nermin Lapandić, Mirha Mulaosmanović, Amela Trakić and Danijela Perojević have been announced for May 22.
(TYPE/Source: dvni.ba/Author: VSHerceg/Photo: Archives/Dženat Dreković/CIN)
