The Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor’s Office (KS) today filed charges against Ibrahim Hadžibajrić, former mayor of the Municipality of Stari Grad, his son Seid Hadžibajrić, Elmedin Karišik, owner of the company Plaza Group, Alma Destanović, former secretary of the Municipal Administration, and the mayor’s relative Fahrudin Novalija.
They stand accused of orchestrating the most egregious acts of corruption as an organized criminal group: abuse of power or authority, giving and receiving bribes and other forms of inducements, money laundering, document forgery, obstruction of justice, and providing false testimony. Furthermore, Hadžibajrić faces charges of furnishing false information regarding assets and income to the Sarajevo Canton Anti-Corruption Office, alongside allegations of electoral fraud.
The former mayor and his family friend, Karišik, are facing charges from the Prosecutor’s Office of orchestrating a criminal syndicate, which allegedly, between 2019 and 2023, exploited public car parks for leasing purposes and appropriated select municipal premises for advertising, all to their personal advantage.
Hadžibajrić and his closest associate, Destanović, are accused of overstepping their official powers to bypass the Stari Grad Municipal Council. They allegedly took unilateral decisions regarding the leasing of public car parks and advertising spaces to firms including Parking Tim, EuroPark, Šemrani, and Plaza Group.
Karišik, either directly or through associates, exerted control over these firms. He conducted business alongside Seid Hadžibajrić, and the profits were shared between them, with Karišik keeping twenty percent of the earnings, while the rest went to the Hadžibajrićs.
The Center for Investigative Reporting has previously documented how Karišik safeguarded the Hadžibajrićs’ earnings, occasionally using them for diverse construction ventures and acquiring vehicles for the Hadžibajrić family. He has been reported to have purchased a building in Goruša near Hastahana Park in central Sarajevo under the name of one of the companies and commenced its reconstruction.
In one of the intercepted conversations via the Sky application, Karišik reportedly informed Hadžibajrić junior that the property was designated for „Beg’s retirement“. Beg is one of the mayor’s nicknames, also used in conversations via this application.
In exchange, Ibrahim Hadžibajrić purportedly issued a series of unlawful decisions in favor of Karišik and the interests of the company Plaza Group, including providing space for advertising billboards, granting construction permits, urban planning approvals, and a range of other decisions falling within the purview of the mayor’s office, as outlined in the Prosecutor’s Office statement.
Furthermore, Hadžibajrić is charged with allegedly failing to declare several hundred thousand BAM held by him and his family members in current, foreign currency, and fixed-term accounts in commercial banks in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This represents the first indictment of this kind in Sarajevo Canton since the introduction of this criminal offense into legislation and the establishment of the Sarajevo Canton Anti-Corruption Office.
During the investigation into electoral fraud, Hadžibajrić is alleged to have submitted falsified information to the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CIK BiH) when registering his former political party, Nezavisna bosanskohercegovačka lista [the Independent Bosnian-Herzegovinian List]. It is claimed that thousands of personal details of Bosnian citizens were misused in these forms, supposedly signed in support of his party’s participation in the 2018 General Elections.
Furthermore, Hadžibajrić and Destanović face charges of unlawfully granting building permits to the company Amko Komerc on Dženetića čikma Street in the historic district of Sarajevo. Fahrudin Novalija is accused of bribing Hadžibajrić for the illicit purchase of land from the Stari Grad Municipality, with Seid Hadžibajrić allegedly laundering the money on behalf of his father. In exchange, Hadžibajrić purportedly bought an apartment in Krvavica near Makarska from Novalija.
The prosecution has proposed the seizure of assets worth 1.63 million BAM from the defendants, including cash and real estate. Furthermore, they are seeking the confiscation of 963,190 BAM in cash, fixed-term deposits, and shares in investment funds.
