First Bank financed a huge €4.6 million line of credit in 2008 for Svetlana Micunovic, wife of controversial casino owner Branislav Micunovic, without checking her finances, without collateral and without paperwork. They also gave Micunovic’s company Dzek Pot, which had posted significant losses for two years, a €200,000 loan guarantee without conducting any financial analysis or guaranteeing the credit.
Montenegrin taxpayers wound up footing the €4.3 million bill for Madonna’s Balkan debut in 2008. And the real company behind the event was First Bank, according to documents obtained by OCCRP. The concert not only broke promises that no public money would be used, it also depleted First Bank’s resources at a time it was already unable to honor requests for money from its own depositors.
The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Ministry of Energy, Mining and Industry dispensed around 15 million KM in grants to private firms. At least 4 million KM of that was awarded to firms connected to the governing parties in FBiH.
Since the last statement of assets Chairman and members of the Council of Ministers: Vjekoslav Bevanda, Nikola Špirić, Sredoje Nović and Mirko Okolić have acquired new properties and summer houses in Donje Blatnice, Drvar, Pale and Doboj, while Zlatko Lagumdžija reported ___unknown co-ownership” of the family home and land in Trebinje.
Thanks to millions in loans from banks connected to the RS government, the family of entity President Milorad Dodik has acquired property worth 9.6 million KM. In the two years before the grace period to repay the loan recently ended, their orchard firm has been losing money.
After the Central Election Commission in BiH withdrew the politicians’ asset declarations from its web site—at the request of the Personal Data Protection Agency in Bosnia and Herzgovina–CIN decided to publish them.
Violating the law pays off for BiH’s leading political parties even when they are caught at it. Fines are so small, violations usually get repeated.
Between 2004 and 2010, the governments in BiH have spent 134.7 million KM of taxpayer money to finance political parties. Some politicians say money could be better used, but they are not doing anything to make that happen.
The FBiH government has invested 1.27 million KM in the “Residence of Rest” in Trpanj, an exclusive guesthouse on the Croatian Adriatic intended for politicians and civil servants. Taxpayers are paying increasing amounts for maintenance, which the government-owned company that runs the residence is hiding.
Eight BiH Parliamentary Assembly members and their drivers collected nearly 305,000 KM to cover the cost of transport by personal vehicles over two years. Due to poor oversight some used the perk even though they did not qualify for it.
Data from politicians’ asset cards cannot be trusted. They often do not report all their income and holdings because there is no punishment for deception and hiding information.
Experiences show that when a political party asks for help, be prepared to either give that help or suffer consequences.
The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIN) in Sarajevo is unique in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the first organization of its kind to be established in Balkans. CIN is dedicated to investigative reporting, aimed toward providing fair and unbiased information, based on evidences and solid proof, to BiH citizens who need to make educated decisions.
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