Nedim Uzunović, the CEO and co-owner of Bosnalijek, the largest pharmaceutical company in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), has been accused of organizing a criminal group, abusing his position, money laundering, and entering into contracts detrimental to the company from 2005 to 2016.
In addition to Uzunović, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH has charged ten individuals, including members of his family, and four companies from BiH and Croatia with the same offenses. According to the indictment, they collectively caused damages to Bosnalijek amounting to approximately 10.8 million BAM while gaining an illegal financial benefit of nearly ten million. With this money, among other things, they acquired shares and assets in BiH and Croatia.
The Prosecutor’s Office alleges that Nedim Uzunović, as the General Manager of Bosnalijek’s Moscow office and later, from 2005 to 2016, established offshore companies through intermediaries, to which he assigned fictitious marketing and other contracts with Bosnalijek. The money from these transactions landed in the private accounts of Uzunović and his associates and family members, which they legalized by purchasing Bosnalijek shares, real estate, vehicles, and other assets.
The prosecution will substantiate these claims with documents obtained from judicial institutions in Latvia, Cyprus, Croatia, Slovenia, and other countries, among other evidence. The indictment has been forwarded to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for confirmation.
CIN has reported on Uzunović’s abuses multiple times over the past seven years. He misappropriated the company’s funds on two occasions: first as the General Manager of Bosnalijek’s Moscow office from 2005 to 2012 when the company was predominantly owned by the BiH Federation Government, and later as the CEO in Sarajevo in 2016 and 2017 when it was under the control of Russian investors concealed behind the Luxembourg-based offshore fund Haden.