Operation Profit: Millions of Marks from NLB Group Fraud Still Blocked

SARAJEVO, (Patria) – The State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) is still acting in the Profit case, which began in early October 2019.

At that time, officials from the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), by order of the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo and the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office, temporarily suspended the disposal of funds owned by 11 individuals and one legal entity, totaling over seven million KM.

"The money is still blocked," SIPA confirmed to Patria, but they could not comment on the exact amount. 

Information available to Patria reveals that over five million KM in cash was found with just one suspect. A total of five safes at commercial banks used by four individuals were searched, and funds totaling 598,970 EUR and gold jewelry (9 gold ducats, three bracelets, three necklaces, four pendants, seven rings, nine chains, seven earrings, two badges, a brooch, a pearl bead, an earring clasp, a gold tooth, a watch) were discovered and temporarily seized.

During the operation, a total of 7,071,961 KM located in 24 accounts opened at nine banks and one investment fund (an amount of 2,218,498 KM and an amount of 2,481,536 EUR) was blocked.

Operation Profit is the epilogue of a multi-year investigation into the disappearance of money from NLB Group Ljubljana, which was supposed to finance the construction of two "Marijin Dvor" buildings, one of which would have been the headquarters of NLB Group in BiH. The construction never happened, and the money disappeared. The prosecutor's office in Ljubljana also conducted an investigation because the damage to NLB Group exceeded 20 million marks. The Sarajevo prosecutor's office has been investigating this case for years, but no indictment has been filed yet. 

Several interconnected individuals and companies are involved in the fraud. NLB Group Ljubljana started the project of building the residential and commercial center "Marijin Dvor" in Sarajevo in 2007. 
The plan was for the joint company of Daver Halilbegović and Armin Mulahusić, Profit-invest, to purchase over 16,000 square meters of land in Sarajevo with money from NLB Group, on which two residential and commercial buildings would later be constructed. The value of the land was slightly over 31 million KM. At that time, the land was owned by the company Unioninvest izgradnja objekata Sarajevo. Ibrahim Jusufranić, former director of GRAS, who is suspected of numerous malversations, was at the head of Unioninvest izgradnja objekata Sarajevo. Jusufranić sold the land to Profit-Invest for the construction of the NLB Group headquarters in BiH. NLB Ljubljana, as the investor, was harmed by the sale, and Jusufranić allegedly acquired a huge amount of money in that deal, which he later invested in starting the University of Travnik, according to data available to investigative bodies.

During the negotiations between the representatives of Profit-invest and NLB Group, the director of Profit-invest was Daver Halilbegović, while Armin Mulahusić headed Eurohaus Invest, a company also owned by the controversial businessman Zijad Blekić. It was Blekić who, through Eurohaus, carried out suspicious transactions and then decided to close the brokerage firm. 
More than 4.5 million KM intended for financing the building construction project ended up in the private accounts of Halilbegović and Mulahusić, the accounts of their wives, as well as the account of the company Profit-Invest opened at UniCredit Bank, over which NLB had no control.

Part of the money was also used to repay loans of the company KS Investment Sarajevo, owned by the wives of Halilbegović and Mulahusić. The director of this company is Daver Halilbegović. Investigators discovered that over 93,000 KM of NLB Group money was illegally spent on repaying the loans of Armin Mulahusić's brother.