SOURCE: Blic, Irena Radisavljević; FOTO: Reuters

A deal that ‘Strabag’, Austrian construction company concluded with a small consulting company from Uzice is a typical example of suspicious business dealing when it concerns public purchases. ‘Strabag’ which is active in Serbia, has engaged the ‘Max Profit’ agency to lobby for it with Serbian officials for getting of five tenders of the ‘Serbian Railways’. All this might not be suspicious at all had the owner of that agency been someone else but Milojka Cicvaric, assistant director at the Center for healthcare of employees of the ‘Railways of Serbia’. That center has been founded by the ‘Railways of Serbia’. 

What was it that made an experienced construction company from Vienna conclude agreement with a company completely unknown when market research, promotion activities, media presentation and lobbying are concerned? The small unknown company was offered a contract worth EUR 60,000 and three percent commission for every deal that ‘Strabag’ gets in Serbia.

It is not difficult to conclude that the reply is in the fact that Milojka Cicvaric has influence on decision making at ‘Railways of Serbia’. People of ‘Strabag’ obviously know that she has strong connection at the ‘Railways of Serbia’ Management Board.

This returns us to problems of staged tenders which are actually robbing the State through public purchases.

‘The real question is how it is possible that someone who runs a private company is employed in a public enterprise at the same time’, Zoran Stojiljkovic of the Agency for fight against corruption.

‘The whole process is going via small companies dealing with lobbying. Actually that is not lobbying by corrupting. The law on lobbying has not been adopted in Serbia and that leaves room to abuse’, Verica Barac, President of the Anti-corruption Agency says.

‘Strabag’ claims not to have known that Milojka Cicvaric was a state clerk.