Due to suspicions of crime in the Highways of the Federation, by order of POSKOK, members of the FUP seize documentation from this company. Due to suspicions of abuse of position and money laundering, the FUP conducted a search and seized documentation in three cantons, and new evidence was collected on suspicions of crime in the FBiH Highways, against five arrested last year, including former Highway director Elmedin Voloder.
All of them are suspected of rigging during the design and expropriation of land for the construction of the Medakovo-Ozimice subdivision.
“Documentation was temporarily confiscated from JP Autocesta FBiH, three legal entities and one natural person from the area of Sarajevo Canton, and one lawyer and notary office from the area of Zenica-Doboj Canton. Activities in the aforementioned criminal case were carried out in an earlier period of time under the supervision of the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office of Zenica-Doboj Canton, which are aimed at five suspects who are brought in connection with illegalities during the design, expropriation of land in the area of the municipality of Žepče and the subsequent establishment landfill Ljubatovići during the construction of the Corridor 5C highway, Medakovo-Ozimice subdivision”, stated POSKOK.
In this case, we are talking about land near Žepče that was bought from the locals, and then, there are suspicions, it was resold to Autoceste at a ten times higher price. For example, a plot of land with an area of more than 17,500 square meters was bought for about 35,000 KM, and sold to Autocesta for more than 440,000 KM.
Autocest claims that everything is just part of the crime of the former Administration.
“Three of these locations at the Ljubatovići landfill were paid for in December 2022 for 61,000 marks, or two marks per square meter, and after that the previous director of highways, Elmedin Voloder, signed a contract with the new owner of those plots for 851,000 KM. This caused damage to the highways in the amount of more than 790,000 KM in just that one specific example,” points out Asmir Dževlan, executive director of JP FBiH highways.
At the same time, and due to the increase in share prices on corridor 5C, by more than half a billion marks on only four shares, as well as flows and misuse of EU money, the investigation is conducted by European and domestic investigators. Due to EIB’s internal investigations, the works on the Medakovo-Ozimice subdivision, which started two years ago, were suspended. And while scandals and criminal investigations in the FBiH Highways continue, numerous sections and kilometers of highways that have never been built are pending. From the illegal spending of EU loans, stolen centimeters of asphalt, rigging of tenders, bribery to the resale of land – on routes that were supposed to be a European corridor, but are becoming Balkan road robbery.
(TIP/Source: federalna.ba/Author: Mirela Mahmutović/Photo: FTV)
