Nenad Nešić, president of the Democratic People’s Alliance (DNS) and Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), together with his wife Maja, co-owns an apartment and a house in Novi Sad, Serbia, which he failed to declare in the asset declaration form he submitted before taking the ministerial office.
He told a CIN journalist that he had contacted the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and that he had been told that the property of the spouse was not to be declared: “Nowhere in the form says the marital property, but only property registered in your name,” said Nešić. But when the journalist read him the regulations, he hung up.
In January 2023, Nešić was appointed a state minister, and before that, he was required to submit to the Council of Ministers a completed Statement with information on work experience, education, party affiliation, and property he owns in Bosnia and Herzegovina and abroad.
The undeclared 98 sqm apartment is located in the center of Novi Sad, while the 177 sqm house is located in a quiet settlement on the other side of the Danube near the Petrovaradin fortress, a recognizable historic symbol of the city.
In the asset declaration form, Nešić declared two apartments of 182 and 164 square meters respectively, and two garages of 13 square meters each in Tivat, a small town in the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro. He also declared land estates in Novo Sarajevo and Istočno Sarajevo. He also declared his ownership of the trading company N-group, which is run by his wife. Also, he indicated that he is a manager of the company N trade owned by his brother Predrag. He added that his brother is the manager of the machine and equipment renting company Energoinvest-automatica. His father Rade is the owner of the trading company Dar-Company.
The State Agency for Investigation and Protection (SIPA) is responsible for verifying the accuracy of information the candidates for the BiH Council of Ministers provided in their statements. However, they only check the property located in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
SIPA previously explained to journalists that if and when they find untrue information, such information is stated in the final report they submit to the mandatary who is authorized to appoint the ministers of the Council of Ministers. It is the mandatary who decides how the information received will be treated and he/she does not inform SIPA thereon.
This was not the first time Nešić forgot to declare everything he owns. In late 2021, CIN journalists found that Nešić had kept quiet about his ownership of N-group, the company he founded in 2016. He did not declare this company in the asset declaration form he submitted to the Central Election Commission in 2018 after he was elected to the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Back then he declared an apartment in Novi Sad, Serbia, and Budva, Montenegro, which he sold in the meantime.
Nešić graduated from law school and started his professional career as an intern at the Istočno Sarajevo Center for Public Security in 2006. From 2007 to 2014, he worked as a criminal police inspector at this institution. That year, he joined DNS. Two years later, he was appointed acting director of the Public Enterprise Putevi Republike Srpske [Roads of Republika Srpska], where he served until 2020. In 2020 he became the president of DNS.
