The Center for Investigative Reporting and Nezavisne Novine cooperated on stories about the Brod Refinery that began running in the newspaper June 16, 2006.
A story headlined “Vitol asks for $115 million” on that day used exclusive data obtained by CIN from Doboj District Prosecutor Izudin Berberović. He identified former refinery directors Vojin Milić and Ilija Drpa, and current director Savo Danilović, plus marketing clerks Milovan Vukašinović and Dobren Trifković as suspects under investigation by his office.
Dušan Teofilović from the Brod company “Petrobard“ and Cvijan Filipović, an official with Željeznica RS, are also under investigation. Local police earlier submitted a report against them.
The seven suspects are charged with misusing power in economy, abuse of office and concluding harmful contracts. The former Republika Srpska Finance Minister Svetlana Cenić told the newspaper that the government had to go to extremes to see. CIN obtained a copy of that contract. In a conversation with CIN, Berberović promised that the refinery would be ardently followed.
Another story using CIN information was published June 20 under the headline “RS government has not approved the contract with Vitol.” The newspaper is continuing to investigate business dealings at the refinery.
