State Minister Buys Top-of the-Range Car

State minister Ismir Jusko recently bought the upmarket ‘Laurin & Klement’ model of the Skoda Superb, the car company’s most expensive product, as his official vehicle – despite his previous statements that officials should not waste money.

The ‘Laurin & Klement’ model costs 26,000 Bosnian marks (over 13,000 euros) more than the basic Skoda Superb and “represents a perfect combination of high class and superior technology”, according to the car company.

Shortly after having been appointed, minister Jusko refused in October 2016 to fly business class and opted instead for economy class, telling media that it was “inadmissible for so much money to be spent on paying an air ticket from the budget of the state such as Bosnia and Herzegovina”.

“There is no need at all to throw budget money around,” Jusko said.

Jusko declined to comment to BIRN about the purchase of the car, but authorised the ministry secretary, Igor Pejic, to respond to questions.

Pejic said that the ministry’s last procurement of vehicles took place a few years ago and that the purchase of Jusko’s car represented a saving because state ministers are entitled to buy cars worth up to 100,000 Bosnian marks (over 51,000 euros).

“With this purchase, we have saved BAM 20,000 in the budget of the institutions thanks to the fact that the minister did not want to purchase a car in the class to which he is entitled,” Pejic explained.

“Respecting the fact that he is a state-level minister, we consider it is not appropriate for the minister to drive a Skoda Fabia or Dacia Sandero,” Pejic said,

The previous ministers of transportation used an Audi A6 from 2007, whose mileage had risen to more than 500,000 kilometres.

Pejic said that the servicing of the Audi A6 was no longer cost-effective.

According to Pejic, Jusko does not have a driver, which has led to more savings.

He also said the Ministry of Communications and Transportation incurs lower costs for salaries than other ministries.

Pejic said he did not think that the fact that the car was a ‘Laurin & Klement’ model was important.

“I think the minister does not even know the car has it [the ‘Laurin & Klement’ designation],” he said

He said that the ministry’s goal was to purchase “a package of equipment that comes with the car”, which justified the difference in price in comparison with the basic version of the Skoda Superb.

The Porsche BH company, from which the vehicle was purchased, offered a discount of more than 6,500 Bosnian marks (3,320 euros) for the car model, whose final price with extra optional equipment reached 81,000 marks (over 41,000 euros).

The extra equipment includes a rear camera, three-zone air-conditioning, leather car seats and ventilated front seats, and a navigation system that cost more than 1,000 euros.

Pejic said the ministry had not purchased new cars for years, so as well as the Skoda Superb, two other cars, Skoda Rapid models, were bought recently for 25,000 Bosnian marks (about 12,770 euros) each.

“In reality, they could be considered lower-class vehicles, but they are not. Those cars serve their purpose,” Pejic said.

He said he “reacted harshly” when some ministry employees criticised him for purchasing such cars.

“Some ministry employees even said: ‘You could have bought a more expensive car. A Skoda Rapid, really? They laugh at us whenever we go somewhere,’” he said.

He added that ministry employees “even travelled to a meeting in Macedonia in that car”, but they complained about being bored during the journey because the Skoda Rapid has no CD player, just a radio.