“Two million to the company of suspect Mladen Lučić for a facility in East Novo Sarajevo.”

It had long been known that residential buildings would be constructed at the attractive location where the dilapidated building of the Public Utility Company “RAD” is currently located. What remained was the formal procedure for purchasing a new facility to relocate this public company. Before the public call was announced, information appeared suggesting that the building would be purchased from Lučić’s co-owned company “SIGMA L,” which had acquired the land of the former demolished “ENERGOINVEST” factory. Coincidentally, that very building met all the conditions prescribed in the public call.

Written by: Sanja Vasković; Cover photo: Public Utility Company ‘RAD’, SPIN Info.”

Let’s start from the beginning.

The public call for the purchase of a building for the needs of KP “RAD” East Sarajevo could only be seen by passersby who visited the municipal administration building in December, since it could not be found on the Municipality’s website at the time this article was published.

The call was also published in a daily newspaper on December 9, 2025.

The deadline for submitting bids was ten days.

However, authorities had been in a hurry to complete this deal earlier as well.

The decision approving the purchase of a facility for the operations of Public Utility Company “RAD” a.d. East Sarajevo was adopted at a session held on December 3, 2025.

The decision entered into force immediately upon adoption.

The Municipality justified the urgency by claiming it was necessary to begin the procurement procedure for the most favorable offer as soon as possible.

The building became more expensive in the meantime

The Municipality wanted the utility company to be located in either the first or second zone of urban construction land, with a usable area of at least 800 square meters, along with other specific conditions related to this type of activity.

It is clear that only a small number of bidders could meet such minimum conditions, such as having a workshop with a mechanic’s inspection pit and locksmith/craft facilities.

The commission that selected the best offer consisted of Aleksandra Milović, head of the Department for Spatial Planning and Housing-Utility Affairs as president, and members Nada Ateljević and Dragana Damjanović.

Although 1.6 million KM had initially been allocated for the building, the Municipality realized that “an additional 600,000 KM needed to be secured” in order to implement the decision.

As a result, the total amount allocated for purchasing the building rose to 2.2 million marks.

While funds were rapidly reallocated from other budget items for the purchase, there was allegedly no money for outdated utility company machinery, forcing the Municipality to take on more than one million marks in debt.

Opposition councilors “guessed” which building would be purchased

“We have information that the public utility company ‘RAD’ will move into the current ‘ENERGOINVEST’ premises, and that residential units will be built on the current ‘RAD’ site, so I ask the mayor to deny it if this is not true,” councilor Boris Obradović said during the assembly session on December 3, before the public call had even been announced.

The mayor did not deny it.

Councilor Stefan Ignjatović also expressed suspicion that the maintenance of the existing utility company building had been deliberately neglected. He argued that the money should have been invested in reconstructing the existing building or constructing a new one at the current location.

“If what Obradović is saying is true — that you have already started building somewhere, or that a building is already being ‘filled’ with workers while only now announcing the procurement — then I think that is catastrophic,” Ignjatović said.

Only a few days ago, the mayor of East Novo Sarajevo, Jovan Katić, confirmed to SPIN Info that the building had indeed been purchased from “SIGMA L.”

“I think three or four bids were submitted in response to the public call. KP ‘RAD’ received its premises within the former ‘Energoinvest’ complex. The premises were adapted and intended for their needs,” the mayor said, announcing the official handover of the facility on April 7.

“The Municipality of East Novo Sarajevo will own those premises and will merely assign them to the utility company for management and maintenance. On the same day, they will also receive a new specialized combined waste vehicle worth 500,000 KM, which we procured last year,” Mayor Katić explained.

Good cooperation between Lučić’s companies and the authorities in East Sarajevo

The company “SIGMA L” was founded six years ago.

Despite having no employees and no significant revenue, it managed to acquire a 140,000-square-meter complex that once housed the industrial giant “ENERGOINVEST.”

The company director is Mladen Lučić, a former DNS official, who was arrested a little over a year ago together with former Security Minister Nenad Nešić on suspicion of corruption-related criminal offenses.

However, even after a year, the investigation has produced no conclusion.

Specifically, Lučić is suspected in the case of assisting Nešić, then director of Roads of Republika Srpska, who allegedly selected road maintenance companies that were later pressured into returning money obtained through tenders.

These dealings are linked to his company “LEGEND,” which co-owns “SIGMA L.”

Interestingly, in the founding capital of “SIGMA L,” the company “LEGEND” appears with a share of 1.00 KM, while “BAN GRADNJA” from Banja Luka participates with 4.00 KM.

The company “SIGMA L” became known to the public in East Sarajevo after it submitted a letter of intent to the City of East Sarajevo proposing the construction of a customs terminal in the same “ENERGOINVEST” complex.

The promise once made by Mayor Ljubiša Ćosić that this would not result in the closure of the terminal in Sokolac was not kept.

The Capital portal previously reported in detail on the collapse of “ENERGOINVEST,” whose land ended up in the hands of “SIGMA L,” as well as its alleged connections with authorities — specifically SNSD official Zoran Tegeltija and his son-in-law.

This customs terminal is also mentioned in reports of alleged illegal activities submitted by employees of the Indirect Taxation Authority.

In addition, auditors discovered that the Municipality of East Novo Sarajevo had previously cooperated with the company ‘SIGMA L.’

The 2024 audit report states that one of the municipality’s expenditures was related to the purchase of land from this company.”

There are no more detailed pieces of information about this purchase in the report.

In any case, this company owned by Mladen Lučić and a company from Banja Luka will become ‘richer’ by more than two million marks of taxpayers’ money.

Only then will a residential-business complex rise on the site of the current ‘RAD’ building.”

“KP ‘RAD’, photo: SPIN Info

Residents are already speculating who the investor will be.”