ITF AND DONOR COMMUNITY RESPONSE TO ALLEGATIONS OF

S E C R E T LJUBLJANA 000758

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

EUR/ACE FOR CDUNN, EUR/NCE FOR MNORDBERG

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/28/2016
TAGS: MASS MOPS PGOV PREL SI
SUBJECT: ITF AND DONOR COMMUNITY RESPONSE TO ALLEGATIONS OF
CORRUPTION IN BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA DEMINING ALONGSIDE THE
ITF ADVISORY BOARD MEETING

REF: A. SECSTATE 190226


B. SARAJEVO 2907

C. SARAJEVO 2706

Classified By: COM for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (S) On November 22, COM attended the International Trust
Fund (ITF) Advisory Board of Donors meeting in Ljubljana.
Before the meeting COM delivered the points from reftel A to
Slovenian ITF Director Goran Gacnik sharing, in a side
conversation, USG concerns about allegations of corruption
and malfeasance within the Bosnian mining community. Gacnik
told COM that ITF is "cooperating fully" with the office of
the prosecutor in Bosnia and Herzegovina and "giving them
everything (they request)." Gacnik further explained that
the ITF understands full well Embassy Sarajevo's requests to
remove potential contractors (by putting them on a
"blacklist") and said that once the USG raised a red flag on
a contractor, ITF in Bosnia and Herzegovina stops working
with them and pulls any money involved. He said he was not
sure what the USG or Embassy Sarajevo process is for vetting
contractors, but that ITF has been fully responsive. In
response to COM's question about what kind of auditing system
ITF has, Gacnik replied that ITF does a yearly financial
audit. The issue did not come up during the official meeting.


2. (S) During the coffee break of the meeting, COM approached
United Kingdom Ambassador Tim Simmons and Bosnia and
Herzegovina Ambassador Izmir Talic and raised the widespread
rumors of corruption in the demining sector of Bosnia and
Herzegovina. ITF Director Goran Gacnik and ITF Managing
Board Member Darko Vidovic (who is also a member of the
Commission for Demining in Bosnia and Herzegovina and is
Minister-Counselor at the Bosnian Embassy in Ljubljana)
joined the group. Vidovic commented that the journalists who
wrote the article in "Bosnia Daily" had raised these issues
on the sides of the Ottawa Convention meeting September 18 to
22 in Geneva. Both he and Gacnik said that ITF had sent a
formal response to the presenters. Vidovic and Gacnik both
commented that the press reports had been linked to events
that had happened several years ago, with Gacnik telling the
group that the National Mine Center in Bosnia certifies
demining contractors and that ITF operates only with
certified contractors. Gacnik repeated his earlier comments
about following the USG "blacklist" and said that other
donors (but not all) also looked to the USG list for
guidance. Shortly thereafter, COM spoke individually with
Canadian Deputy Chief of Mission Agnes Pust (covering
Ljubljana out of Budapest) and Norwegian Ambassador May Britt
Brofoss echoing comments about the need for the donor
community to make sure that funds were being used in a
transparent and responsible manner.


3. (S) Gacnik has organized a meeting on November 28th to
present what ITF is doing, show the documentation that ITF
requires from potential contractors and gives to the boards
making decisions on tenders, and to explain the challenge
from the ITF perspective. He reiterated that ITF is
committed to fulfilling its mandate and doing it in the right
way. Also attending will be representatives from the British
Embassy, the Bosnian Embassy, and the ITF Managing Board
(including Managing Board members also representing the
Slovenian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense).


4. (S) COMMENT: Gacnik was clearly well aware of the issue
when COM raised it and was forceful in saying that ITF in
Slovenia was being as responsive to concerns as it could be.
In discussions with COM on the margins of the Advisory Board
meeting, all but the Bosnians were unaware of this case. It
should be noted, however, that Ambassadors attending the ITF
Advisory Board meeting are all accredited to Ljubljana. Any
attempts we may make to assure others are pressing ITF on
this issue should also include reaching out to donor country
embassies in the region (e.g. Sarajevo, Zagreb, Belgrade et
al) to make sure the message is delivered where the problem
may lie. We will ask at the November 28 meeting for ITF to
be more proactive as well as to ascertain what audit and
investigation tools the GoS has at hand to assure that any
possible malfeasance in the future can be identified and
stopped early on. END COMMENT.
ROBERTSON