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In the exercise of the powers vested in the High Representative by Article 5
of the Annex 10 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, according to which the High Representative "is the final
authority in the theater regarding interpretation of [the] Agreement on the
civilian implementation of the peace agreement";
Endorsing the interpretation of these powers given in paragraph XI, 2 of the
Conclusions of the Peace Implementation Conference held in Bonn on 10
December 1997, in particular, sub-paragraph c thereof, by means of which the
High Representative is entitled to take actions against persons holding
public positions who are found by the High Representative to be in violation
of legal commitments made under the Peace Agreement or the terms of its
implementation;
Noting the reiteration of the acknowledgement of such powers by the Peace
Implementation Council in Chapter X of the Annex to the Madrid Declaration
of 16 December 1998;
We hereby issue the following
Decision
To remove Mr. Stiepo Andrijic from his position of President of the
Management Board of the Federation Privatization Agency.
This Decision has immediate effect.
Reasons for removal
Mr. Stiepo Andrijic has persistently and seriously obstructed in numerous
cases the process of privatization in the Federation of BiH in his capacity
as the President of the Management Board of the Federation Privatization
Agency.
In particular, Mr. Stiepo Andrijic is responsible for:
- Delaying the adoption of international-standard tender regulations
urgently required for the implementation of transparent tenders. The
non-adoption of the regulations led to unsatisfactory tender results and an
obvious lack of transparency.
- Insisting, against the advice of domestic and international
privatization experts, on the adoption of an arbitrary and unnecessary
deadline of 29 February 2000 for the publication of all tenders. This date
led to enterprises being tendered without any acceptable degree of
preparation and under the existing flawed regulations.
These two points subsequently resulted in the necessity for the Government
of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to announce suspension of the
tender process.
- Disregarding the strong advice of the Office of the High
Representative to implement the recommendations of the Privatization
Monitoring Commission. Compliance with those recommendations would have led,
inter alia, to large hotels being sold under large-scale privatization
regulations and to more satisfactory results.
- Preventing implementation of the Federation Government's agreements
with the International Community. Such agreements include that majority
undertaking in specified strategic enterprises be offered to strategic
investors. Mr. Andrijic's announcement of 10 May 2000 contravened this
agreement.
Sarajevo, 22 May 2000
Wolfgang Petritsch
High Representative
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