The Prosecutor’s Office of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has brought charges against Edin Ražanica from Brčko for abuse of position and authority. As the head of the “Centar demokratije” [Engl. Center for Democracy] association, he is charged with misappropriating 39,000 BAM, the money he received from the Brčko District Government for the activities of the association, which he retained for personal use, and redirected to his family members and others.

The indictment confirmed by the Basic Court in the Brčko District in mid-December 2023 alleges that Ražanica paid his wife 16,500 BAM for leasing premises that the association did not utilize between 2017 and 2020. This pertains to a 20-square-meter apartment, which was utilized for residential purposes during the leasing period. Furthermore, he used the association’s funds to purchase two mobile phones for his two daughters, totaling 2,458 BAM.

Furthermore, he faces charges of entering into agreements with multiple individuals to organize workshops, making payments despite the workshops not taking place. He also paid for the preparation and printing of a publication and the development of a website, despite none of these tasks being completed. Additionally, he justified a portion of the funds he received from the Government and Assembly of the Brčko District using the same invoices.

The prosecution has asked the court to impose a measure preventing Ražanica from holding a position of responsibility in citizens’ associations and foundations for at least five years. Moreover, they are seeking to seize any assets unlawfully obtained by him and other individuals implicated in the case.

The Centre for Investigative Reporting wrote back in 2019 about how the grant allocation to non-governmental associations had become a lucrative business for their founders and local politicians in the Brčko District. Journalists revealed that politicians used this money to buy votes, while their cronies from the associations spent the funds without proper oversight. Ražanica was one of them.

Following CIN’s investigation, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina filed a total of four indictments, one of which resulted in a final judgment.

Ćazim Dačaj, a former representative of the Brčko District Assembly, got a four-year prison term in 2021 for mishandling the grant allocation to local citizen associations. Dačaj had assets valued at 131,000 BAM seized as proceeds of crime, and he was barred from holding representative responsibilities in the Brčko District Assembly for five years.

There is an ongoing court proceeding against Alija Denjagić, an independent representative in the Brčko District Assembly, and Enida Osmanović-Stevanović, the president of the association “Sjedinjene nacionalne manjine” (Engl. United National Minorities), also for the abuse of position. The Brčko District Prosecutor’s Office accused Denjagić of pocketing over 32,000 BAM through Brčko grants, all at the expense of the SNM Association and the Brčko District Government. Osmanović-Stevanović is charged with exploiting her position to let Denjagić and his cronies dip into the funds earmarked for the SNM association for personal use.

The Prosecution also filed an indictment against Alen Mujkić on suspicion of acquiring illegal gain exceeding for himself and others through the misuse of budget grants administered by the associations he managed.  He is accused of spending grants awarded to him by the Government of the Brčko District for personal needs from 2017 to 2021, as well as paying others for service contracts that were never fulfilled. According to the indictment, Mujkić fictitiously represented the expenditure of almost half of the 422,500 BAM he received for the work of the association.