Hadžić and Zulum Handed Over to KS Prosecutor's Office

Former Mayor of Novi Grad Municipality and former Minister of Transport and Communications of BiH Damir Hadžić was handed over to the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of KS along with court expert Kasim Zulum. They were arrested on Wednesday as part of the Blok operation, writes Patria News Agency. They will be questioned by the acting prosecutor.

Hadžić is accused of enabling the illegal payment of over one million marks to Esed Radeljaš. Radeljaš was arrested on November 9 and ordered into one-month detention.

Hadžić and Zulum are suspected of criminal offenses of abuse of position or authority in connection with criminal offenses of abuse of assessment and the criminal offense of aiding and abetting.

Hadžić headed the Novi Grad Municipality for 12 years, from 2000 to early 2012, when he took over as Minister of Transport and Communications in the Council of Ministers of BiH.

The Blok operation began on November 9, when members of SIPA, on the order of the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of KS and the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo, arrested Esed Radeljaš, former councilor in Novi Grad, representative, minister in the Government of BPK, Jasmina Horo, assistant to the former mayor of Novi Grad Municipality Damir Hadžić, Nedžad Kapetanović, former legal representative of Novi Grad Municipality, and Jusuf Čaušević, head of the Department for Property-Legal Affairs of Novi Grad Municipality.

In 2010, Radeljaš collected 1,033,000 KM from the Novi Grad Municipality as compensation because the Municipality had taken away his land on which he did not build a facility within the stipulated period. In 2006, the Novi Grad Municipality granted Radeljaš land in Nedžarići for a fee of 51,340 KM.