Ivo Filipović, Deputy Speaker of the Brčko District Assembly, has been fined 2,000 BAM for submitting inaccurate and incomplete asset declarations, following a report by the Centre for Investigative Reporting (CIN) published in early 2025. The fine was imposed by the Brčko District Commission for Deciding on Conflicts of Interest, its chair, Admira Mujić, confirmed to CIN.
She noted that the decision is final, although Filipović has the right to challenge it in court.
CIN journalists revealed that Filipović had for years failed to fully and truthfully disclose his assets, in violation of legal obligations that apply to all elected officials in the Brčko District. Over 17 years, Filipović and his wife purchased seven properties worth several million convertible marks, in addition to inheriting two others. However, in his asset declarations, Filipović failed to report all of these properties and did not disclose income from property sales. In many cases, the information he provided differed from the details contained in official sale contracts.
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Filipović was issued a fine close to the minimum allowed by law. Commission Chair Admira Mujić believes the penalty should have been higher, noting that the maximum fine is 10,000 BAM. She said she was outvoted by the other two members of the Commission when the decision was made.
Prompted by information revealed in CIN’s investigation, the Commission has since amended its guidelines on completing asset declarations. The updated rules, in effect since this year, now require public officials in Brčko to submit supporting documentation detailing how assets were acquired — including sale and purchase agreements.
Mujić explained that without legal proof of acquisition, the Commission no longer accepts asset declarations from politicians.
Filipović did not respond to calls or messages from a CIN reporter. In an earlier encounter, he admitted to having been careless when filling in the forms but claimed he had no intention of hiding anything.
Filipović Tweaked His Asset Records As Scrutiny Grew
After learning that a CIN journalist was investigating his assets, Filipović altered the information in his asset declarations, stating that certain properties had co-owners — details not reflected in official records.
One such example is a house with a yard and a section of road in Novalja on the island of Pag, which Filipović and his wife Pera purchased without taking out a loan in November 2022 for approximately 955,500 BAM. He did not declare the property until September 2024. When he eventually reported it, he listed only a plot of building land, claiming it had been purchased by his wife, without mentioning the house at all. Instead of an undervalued estimate of 150,000 BAM, he reported the actual purchase price.
He explained the acquisition as being funded through savings, the sale of other properties, and a 300,000 BAM loan — the latter never previously disclosed. He later made changes in the land registry as well, registering a loan of nearly half a million BAM in favour of one individual and one legal entity.
Mujić said the Commission launched a review in response to CIN’s reporting and concluded that the issue was due to negligence: “The property had been declared, but the values reported varied from year to year”, she explained.
