The apartment of the former mayor of Sarajevo’s Stari Grad Municipality, Ibrahim Hadžibajrić, located in Krvavica near Makarska in Croatia, has been temporarily assigned to the FBiH Seized Property Management Agency.
At the request of the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor’s Office, the Municipal Court in Split has prohibited Hadžibajrić from selling or mortgaging the property and has placed it under the management of the Agency in Sarajevo.
Hadžibajrić and his son Seid are on trial for abuse of office, money laundering, and accepting bribes, with part of the indictment relating to the purchase of the apartment in Krvavica.
The former mayor of the oldest municipality in Sarajevo purchased a 43-square-meter apartment on the Adriatic coast in March 2022 for EUR 80,000. The Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office began investigating the property when it was revealed that it was bought using funds from the mayor’s relative, Fahrudin Novalija. Novalija lent Hadžibajrić’s son, Seid, BAM 145,000 interest-free for ten years, and Seid transferred this amount, along with the remaining balance for the purchase, to his father’s account, from which the property was paid.
In July 2021, Novalija purchased a nearly 200-square-meter plot from the Municipality at an auction for BAM 137,500. This plot is located in Alifakovac, the historic city center of Sarajevo, and falls within the area designated for the future national monument “Historical Urban Landscape of Sarajevo”, which has a temporary sales restraint in place.
“I can pay (…) Mr. Fahrudin Novalija tomorrow, so he doesn’t have to wait for these 145,000 for ten years… I will quickly return that money, God willing”, said the former mayor during the court hearing.
