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The event is frozen in time, the photos emblazoned in a special section on the pharmacy website, as an important symbol of international success. But is it? Many institutions and individuals in the Balkans like to show off international awards as proof of a great achievement or business accomplishment. In many cases, however, those awards are bogus, sold by unscrupulous organizations that prey on human vanity. Pharmacy Belgrade GTLC award in Madrid 2. Center for Investigative Reporting of Serbia (CINS) and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) found that awards mania has swept the region since 2. Yet CINS/OCCRP could find no evidence of competitions, judging, or even set criteria used to determine winners. The pattern appears to be that anyone who pays enough money can win an award. Many winners come from the public sector, which means that money paid for awards came from budgets or ultimately from the pockets of taxpayers. These awards do not come cheap. In Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, around 5. Some paid for multiple awards at prices that ranged from . Ten people including two company directors of Galenika were indicted in January 2. In July 2. 01. 4, the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation against them for several charges related to their work at the airport, including abuse of office and making harmful contract for the company.'Giving' Away Awards Turns Out To Be A Highly Profitable Business. The organizations that provide these awards are nearly always based in European Union countries and mostly market their awards to developing countries, including those in the Balkans. Huawei Honor Mobile Phones price list 2016 for sale in philippines. You can check various Huawei Honor Cell Phones and the latest prices, compare cellphone prices and see. Shop for Honor 5X (Grey, 16GB) online at best prices in India. Browse Honor 5X (Grey, 16GB)smartphone specifications and features on Amazon.in. The Price of Honor - The Witcher 3: Is a Skellige side quest with suggested level 14. You can pick this quest up in Harviken. This quest involves searching for the quest giver's. Buy Honor 5C (Silver, 16 GB) Mobile Phone for Rs.10999 Online, Check Honor 5C (Silver, 16 GB) Specifications and Features. Only Genuine Products, Free Shipping, Cash On Delivery at Flipkart.com F-Assured Advertise Gift Card Download App Track Order. They operate in a similar manner, and don’t publish a lot of information about themselves. Even their websites don’t reveal such basic information as their whole history or previous winners. Some of them change websites frequently or open new ones. After reading every month that different local companies received “prestigious” international awards, CINS/OCCRP reporters examined media archives for the past 1. Balkans. Reporters then sought documentation on the organizations and talked with their prizewinners. They have also contacted these organizations, but only two replied. Otherways Management Association Club (OMAC), based near Paris, France, describes itself on its website as an association which links businesses. Its membership consists of its award winners who come from more than 8. Global Trade Leaders’ Club (GTLC) is based in Madrid, Spain, and presents itself as an association of leading businesses with 7,5. It says there is no financial contribution needed and the only requirement to join GTLC is to win one of its awards. But, while memberships are free, the awards themselves require hefty payments. Both OMAC and GTLC hold ceremonies several times a year and give awards to dozens of institutions and companies annually. Each of these organizations awarded a prize to the state- run Belgrade Pharmacy, the largest chain of pharmacy stores in Serbia with 1. Belgrade. The pharmacy received a GTLC award in 2. The following year, it received another award from OMAC at a ceremony in Berlin, but this time the company Berlin- Chemie Belgrade office paid the costs. The ceremony was attended by the Serbian ambassador, Ivo Viskovi. Representatives of Bi. H and Serbian embassies often attend the ceremonies and sometimes even hand out the awards, while ministries at home send out congratulatory press releases. Pharmacy Belgrade awards from GTLC and OMAC in director's office. When CINS/OCCRP journalists interviewed the new director of the pharmacy, they noticed that a statuette, golden badge and plaque, received from two different organizations, are placed prominently in her office, although they were received before she took office. Identical winners are not the only way in which GTLC and OMAC are connected. Charbel S. Tabet founded OMAC 1. However, CINS/OCCRP journalists found that in the past, through another organization he ownes – United Publi. Salons International – Tabet worked as a GTLC consultant and was even named as a contact person for awardees on an invitation letter for a GTLC ceremony in March 2. In addition, as a director and founder of the company Foodica Best Foods, he also received a GTLC award in 1. The company later received awards from OMAC as well, which means one of his organizations presented awards to another. Other organizations CINS/OCCRP looked into were: The Europe Business Assembly (EBA), Oxford, United Kingdom. The Business Initiative Directions (BID), Madrid, Spain. Actualidad Magazine, Madrid, Spain. The European Society for Quality Research (ESQR), Lausanne, Switzerland. CINS/OCCRP compiled a database that shows these six organizations sold more than 2. Serbia and Bi. H since 2. During research, CINS/OCCRP contacted all six organizations. Four never replied, while GTLC sent information copied from its website and invited journalists to a lunch during its next ceremony in Paris. In several emails, OMAC wrote that its criteria for choosing awardees are strict, and not just anyone who offers money will be honored. Still, they noted that organizing an event in Europe requires high expenditures and since they do not have sponsors, they are forced to take . They all have similar names, including words such as international/golden award for prestige, quality, leadership or new millennium and diamond award. The organizations all find new nominees in the same manner. They say they research and choose the best, but in reality in most cases they send out hundreds of email invitations and some even allow applicants to nominate themselves on organization websites. Anyone who replies, shows interest and agrees to pay gets an award. Most of the solicitation letters contain the ceremony program (generally held in an attractive European capital), pictures of the trophies and information about costs. For example, EBA mailed letters to half of the universities in Serbia, telling each that it was nominated for an award. Some universities told CINS/OCCRP they continued to receive these letters even after saying they were not interested. CINS/OCCRP’s database shows that, like the common cold, these awards spread easily. Many winners received more than one; when a company received an award from one organization, it was then often solicited by other organizations offering similar awards. For example, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, several private companies have piled up multiple awards. The Bobar company received three awards from BID while the Ortosar company in Sarajevo received BID awards seven times. Ortosar awards. Some individuals seem especially keen on the awards. When Ibrahim Jusufrani. The company Beogradske elektrane has received five awards from BID, GTLC and OMAC. The prize organizations hold several award ceremonies a year, usually in cities such as Madrid, Berlin, London and Paris. Events last two or three days and usually contain short panels, presentation of attendees, and an awards ceremony and gala dinner. To collect the awards, winners must pay their own way to the ceremony. Several dozen winners, mostly from Africa, Asia, South America and Southeastern Europe, attend each event, paying several thousand Euros for the privilege. Serious money is involved here. Ibrahim Jusufranic on ESQR, EBA and OMAC ceremony. On its website OMAC says that in 1. CINS/OCCRP obtained records which show they charged . Usually, there are many more winners - 9. March 2. 01. 4 and 6. November 2. 01. 3 - so the income is presumably much higher. Several winners told CINS/OCCRP that in the past, fees were lower than they are today, though the few available records from years ago show that it was a big business even then. In 2. 00. 3, the Bi. H state Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA) paid . The CINS/OCCRP database indicates BID, founded in 1. Buying Awards With Taxpayers’ Money. Everyone loves to get a prize. Although the awards mean nothing, winners tend to be proud of them and easy on the organizations giving them out. They don’t mind paying for travel, hotel and food for (usually) two people to attend a prize ceremony, plus registration fees and costs to cover the trophy, diploma and advertising trumpeting their success: videos, photos of the award ceremony, posters, and publications featuring profiles of winners. She added she didn't know how she came to win. CINS/OCCRP found that almost everyone who comes to a ceremony has paid to be there. Basically, when they receive a letter from the organizers, a price- list or fee required to get the award is attached. Some organizations claim rare exceptions – for example, the Academy of Fine Arts in Siroki Brijeg, Bi. H, received the Actualidad statue from the Spanish ambassador in Bi. H in 2. 00. 9. Officials said they did not pay for their prize. Still, CINS/OCCRP found others who did pay Actualidad – like the public kindergarten, Children of Sarajevo, which coughed up . Only a few of the winners who talked with CINS/OCCRP reported any kind of benefit in business terms from the awards. Higher School of Professional Business Studies in Novi Sad EBA awards in 2. One entity who saw a benefit was the public Higher School of Professional Business Studies in Novi Sad, Serbia, which received several awards from EBA, their “partner” according to information on EBA’s website. School Director Dragica Tomi. Usually, they said, that was because they didn’t have enough money to cover the costs of receiving the honor. Sarajevo Centar Municipality is proud to report on its website that it has received 2. In fact, officials traveled to one ceremony in 2. As for the other 1. 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