The Touareg, once used by senior officials of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), was sold in June of this year for nearly 35,000 BAM. Mirko Ivanković, an entrepreneur from Ljubuški, described the 12-year-old SUV as being in “top condition” in the advertisement.
He purchased the vehicle in 2023 from M.R.M. Export-Import, a Ljubuški-based company specialising in new and used car sales.
A decade earlier, the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers had bought this Touareg, along with three other vehicles — a Phaeton and two Passats — from M.R.M. for nearly 485,000 BAM. Journalists from the Centre for Investigative Reporting (CIN) have revealed that the same vehicles were later sold back to the same company at auction for just 36,000 BAM — a price at which only one of the cars could have realistically been sold on the market at the time.
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A year before this sale, the Secretariat invested over 27,000 BAM in servicing these vehicles, with the maintenance carried out by none other than the future buyer — M.R.M.
This gave M.R.M. a clear advantage at the auction, making it easy for their representatives to outbid the only other contender, Oilmer from Sarajevo. There was no risk for M.R.M. since they had sold the vehicles to the Secretariat and regularly maintained them.
After the Council of Ministers lost part of its fleet that same year, it purchased five new vehicles for nearly 530,000 BAM — again from M.R.M. In the tender documentation, the Secretariat specified detailed technical requirements for the vehicles and set a delivery deadline of one month.
This effectively excluded other potential bidders, including the company ABC-1968, whose representatives stated they collected the tender documents but withdrew from the process, knowing in advance their application would be rejected.
In addition, over the past 13 years, the Council of Ministers has purchased two more vehicles from the M.R.M. showroom. During this period, the Secretariat has not conducted a single tender for vehicle procurement in which this company did not secure the contract.
“If someone sells an official vehicle, then wins the tender for its maintenance, subsequently buys back the same vehicles, and then sells new ones, it raises serious questions about how much of this complies with the law,” said Dževad Nekić, former Chief Auditor at the Audit Office of the Institutions of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH).
No one from the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers of BiH agreed to speak on camera with CIN journalists. Robert Grubišić, director of M.R.M., also declined to comment, stating briefly that they operate as they do and that everything is in accordance with the law.
A Single Firm Handles Every Job
In June 2025, Mirko Ivanković, an entrepreneur from Ljubuški, listed a Touareg V6 for sale on the OLX website for nearly 35,000 BAM. The vehicle had been an official car used by the Chair of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2013.
CIN journalists responded to Ivanković’s advertisement, inspected the car, and conducted a test drive. The well-maintained interior and tidy engine indicated that the vehicle had been driven by professional chauffeurs and regularly maintained.
When journalists later contacted Ivanković and identified themselves, he declined to speak on camera but provided brief responses via the Viber messaging app: “I bought the car because I liked it.”
In 2013, the Secretariat purchased this vehicle for the then-Chair of the Council of Ministers of BiH, Vjekoslav Bevanda, for 148,590 BAM, as reported by CIN at the time. Around the same period, M.R.M. also supplied a Phaeton and two Passats through public tenders.
State auditors found that one of the two Passats had been purchased through a tender process that specifically favoured its characteristics.
The vehicles were used for a decade before being put up for auction. Throughout that time, they were maintained and repaired by the Ljubuški company M.R.M. Shortly before putting the cars up for sale in May 2023, a total of 23,906 BAM was invested in their maintenance.
Spending on the vehicles continued even after they were listed for sale, with additional maintenance costing a further 3,543 BAM.
Subsequently, the vehicles were sold for 36,000 BAM — a price only slightly above the amount spent on maintenance.
“Those who invested in and maintained these vehicles have a significant advantage when it comes to purchasing them. I truly believe there is a clear conflict of interest here,” said Nekić.
Miroslav Rupčić, son and brother of the co-owners of M.R.M., is a former assistant minister of defence of the Federation of BiH and ex-director of insurance undertaking Hercegovina Osiguranje. In the latter half of 2004, he was sentenced to five years and six months in prison for redirecting funds intended for the Ministry of Defence of the Federation of BiH to the HDZ political party.
The Court of BiH ruling states that in April 2001, as director of Hercegovina Osiguranje, Rupčić gifted a Golf valued at 56,900 BAM to Dragan Čović — then a high-ranking HDZ member and current party president.
Rupčić testified that Čović had ceased performing his duties as Minister of Finance and that the car was intended for his personal use. He described the gift of the Golf as “a sign of respect towards that man.”
Tenders for M.R.M.
A significant portion of the M.R.M. revenue is based on tender sales of vehicles to public enterprises and institutions.
Over the past ten years, through business with public institutions and enterprises in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the company has generated nearly 78.5 million BAM in revenue. One of its loyal customers is the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, which during that period did not conduct a single tender for the purchase and maintenance of vehicles in which the Ljubuški-based firm did not win the contract.
Following the adoption of the 2023 state budget, a procurement plan was drawn up for vehicles for the offices of the Chair and the General Secretariat, valued at 530,000 BAM.
A tender was announced to which only M.R.M. applied, selling four Audis and one Volkswagen to the Secretariat for 529,908 BAM. The purchase price of the vehicles closely matched the planned budget, differing by just a few dozen marks.
Nekić believes this indicates that input was gathered from the vehicle supplier before the sale, as otherwise, such a minimal difference between the estimated value and the actual purchase price would not have been possible.
Although the Public Procurement Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina requires that all bidders be treated equally and without discrimination, the tender documentation detailed every specification of the vehicles requested by the Council of Ministers — including length and width, wheelbase, engine power, and trunk capacity.
“When you specify exact dimensions and precise features, such as seat design or steering wheel position, in tender documents, it can result in favouring a particular manufacturer or vehicle model,” said Nekić.
This was the case, for example, with the specifications that described the Audi A6 50 TDI, which was ultimately purchased. The Secretariat required a total of 48 technical characteristics, including a minimum vehicle length of 4,900 millimetres, a maximum width of 2,120 millimetres, and seat upholstery combining fabric and leather. The Audi offered by M.R.M. met all these requirements.
CIN journalists identified similar matches between the requested specifications and the other vehicles purchased.
The wheelbase of the Audi Q5 bought was 2,819 millimetres—just one millimetre shorter than the maximum requirement. The same specifications also called for a minimum vehicle length of 4,680 millimetres, a figure nine millimetres shorter than the length of the Q5 SUV.
The Audi A6 and Q5 were purchased together for 319,920 BAM.
In a second package from the same tender, the Secretariat bought two Audi A4s and a Volkswagen Arteon, paying nearly 210,000 BAM.
The first two cars were described in detail within the same specifications, which included a requirement for one with a manual gearbox and the other with an automatic transmission. Although all other specifications called exclusively for black vehicles, this time the tender allowed for one car to be grey. This is precisely what M.R.M. supplied: one black and one grey Audi.
For the third vehicle, the requirement was a minimum length of 4,860 millimetres, with the Volkswagen Arteon fitting within this specification by just six millimetres.
According to available information, the requested dimensions could have also accommodated a Škoda Superb. However, since the same lot included dimensions tailored to the Audi A4, the pool of potential suppliers was effectively narrowed.
As M.R.M. is one of only three authorised dealers and service providers in BiH for both Audi and Volkswagen, they were able to submit a tender and supply vehicles matching the specifications of models from both manufacturers. The company Brčko Gas obtained the tender documentation but did not submit an offer, while Porsche BH stated that they do not participate in public procurements.
The Ljubuški firm also met the delivery deadline of one month, a condition that auditor Nekić commented on: “Of course, you limit competition when you set a 30-day deadline, especially if you know in advance that it is not possible to deliver those vehicles or similar equipment any sooner.”
CIN journalists sent the tender’s technical vehicle specifications to all authorised dealerships in BiH, asking whether in 2023 they had in stock, or could procure, vehicles matching the specified characteristics.
Hyundai Auto BH responded that they do not currently have—and did not have two years ago—any vehicles matching the specified technical requirements.
Porsche BH stated that, as the authorised importer for Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT, CUPRA, ŠKODA, and Porsche, they do not have insight into individual tenders submitted by authorised dealerships, as they do not participate in such tenders themselves.
Nipex, an authorised dealer from Tuzla for VW and ŠKODA sales and Audi maintenance service, said that even if they could source vehicles meeting the required specifications, they would not be able to meet the one-month delivery deadline.
“When someone orders vehicles, we cannot say whether they will arrive in five, six, or more months. We do not know when or within what timeframe the ordered vehicle will be delivered,” said Sanja Dimitrijević, Sales Manager at Nipex.
The company ABC-1968 collected the tender documentation but did not submit a bid.
“When we realised we could not meet the requirements, we did not proceed with the application because we knew we would be rejected,” said Bakir Bucalo, director of the company that sells Citroën vehicles.
Maintenance Trip Expenses Outweigh Car Repairs
Routine maintenance and minor repairs might seem straightforward — unless, for every mechanic intervention, vehicles from Sarajevo have to be driven all the way to Herzegovina. That was the usual route for the General Secretariat’s vehicles over the past decade. Official cars were required to be taken to the M.R.M. service centre for every repair.
CIN journalists calculated that over the past ten years, the Council of Ministers of BiH contracted maintenance for its vehicles worth around 300,000 BAM. All contracts were awarded to M.R.M. as the sole bidder.
State auditors found that in 2024, the General Secretariat signed a two-year framework agreement worth 43,428 BAM for maintaining official Audis and Volkswagens still under warranty. Tender documents were collected by four potential bidders, but only one bid was submitted, which the evaluation committee found met all the requirements.
The committee noted that the service centre was located 146 kilometres from the General Secretariat’s headquarters.
Auditors reported in 2024 that the round trip to the service centre amounted to 292 kilometres, resulting in additional travel costs that were not covered by the procurement contract.
Previously, auditors had warned that the Secretariat’s tender process used price as the sole criterion for selecting the service provider, ignoring travel expenses that often exceed the actual cost of maintenance.
The 2015 Financial Audit Report on the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers of BiH highlighted that the chosen supplier was over 150 kilometres away from the institution’s base, and indirect costs such as fuel and driver travel frequently outweighed the direct maintenance charges.
Nekić argues that selecting such a distant supplier is unreasonable and goes against good public spending practices, leading to wasteful and inefficient use of funds.
