Investigating: New details of the NLB bank money heist, which was supposed to fund the Marijin Dvor complex

Patria News Agency journalists have come into possession of material revealing new details about the disappearance of over 4.5 million KM from NLB Group Ljubljana, which was intended to finance the construction of two residential and commercial buildings called "Marijin Dvor" in Sarajevo.

The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina suspects Daver Halilbegović and Armin Mulahusić, along with their wives Edina and Elma, and the companies they own, Profit-Invest d.o.o. Sarajevo and KS Invest doo Sarajevo, of unlawfully appropriating over 4.5 million KM from NLB Group.

NLB Group Ljubljana began the project of constructing the "Marijin Dvor" residential and commercial center 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 using NLB Group's money, on which two residential and commercial buildings would later be constructed.

The value of the land was estimated at over 31 million KM. At that time, the land was owned by the company Unioninvest izgradnja objekata Sarajevo. The head of Unioninvest izgradnja objekata Sarajevo was Ibrahim Jusufranić, recently arrested for a multi-million KM affair at the GRAS public transport company.

After the construction of the "Marijin Dvor" commercial buildings, Profit-Invest was supposed to sell one building, while the other building would serve as the headquarters for NLB Group.

However, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH discovered that over 4.5 million KM intended for financing this project ended up in the private accounts of Halilbegović and Mulahusić, the accounts of their wives, and the account of the company Profit-Invest opened at UniCredit bank.

Through further investigation, investigators have obtained new data confirming that Halilbegović and Mulahusić deliberately intended to defraud their partners from Slovenia.

To secure the multi-million investment, NLB Group required Halilbegović and Mulahusić, before entering into business with them or their company Profit-invest, to allow NLB Group to enter the ownership and management structure of Profit-Invest.

Halilbegović and Mulahusić, as 50 percent co-owners of Profit-Invest, were obligated by a new agreement to retain 12.5 percent ownership each in Profit-Invest, transfer 50 percent of the shares to the legal entity Žarjev d.o.o. Ljubljana, and 25 percent of the co-ownership to the legal entity Vranica d.d. Sarajevo.

In this way, NLB Group intended to have control over Profit-Invest, i.e., the Sarajevo company that was supposed to purchase land worth millions of KM for the bank with the bank's money, and then build a facility also worth millions of KM for the bank.

The agreement further stipulated that both Žarjev and Vranica were obliged to withdraw from the ownership structure of Profit-Invest after the completion of the Marijin Dvor project, and no later than 2011.

However, investigators discovered that the ownership and management structure of Profit-Invest was never changed in the Register of Companies of the Municipal Court in Sarajevo, even though Halilbegović and Mulahusić presented to NLB Group representatives that they had made the agreed-upon changes.

Notary Miloš P. Jovović informed NLB Leasing d.o.o. Sarajevo in writing that an application for the registration of changes in the ownership and management structure of Profit-Invest had been submitted to the Court. This information was accurate. However, NLB Group was kept unaware that the Municipal Court, shortly thereafter, ordered a supplementation of this application, which Halilbegović and Mulahusić never completed. Thus, the ownership of Profit-Invest remained entirely with Halilbegović and Mulahusić.

Investigators suspect that Halilbegović and Mulahusić deliberately did not make the changes in order to more easily get their hands on the NLB Group's money, Patria writes.