Izetbegović "forgot" to report valuable property in Poljine

The land in the elite Sarajevo settlement of Poljine cost a quarter of a million marks. It was purchased by the member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Bakir Izetbegović, his wife Sebija, and the director of the Sarajevo Regional Development Agency SERDA, Ševkija Okerić, two years ago. It is about developed land of almost five dunams, which includes an access road, the Center for Investigative Journalism (CIN) has learned.

Izetbegović, who is running for the same position in the upcoming general elections in BiH, did not report this land in his asset declaration, although he was obliged to do so.

However, according to CIN's research, he is not the only candidate in the October elections who was not honest when filling out asset declaration forms. Based on a sample of one hundred politicians from ruling and opposition parties, journalists found that at least six others concealed their assets. By comparing asset declarations from 2010 and 2014 with data from land registry offices in BiH, it is evident that not all assets were reported by: Nikola Špirić and Velimir Kunić from the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), the president of the Alliance for a Better Future (SBB), Fahrudin Radončić, the president of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Zlatko Lagumdžija, the vice-president of the Union of Social Democrats (USD), Ivo Komšić, and Esed Radeljaš, a member of the Bosnian Party (BOSS).

However, they will not be punished, as there is no penalty for incomplete or false reporting of assets in asset declarations.

No Sanctions

In this year's asset declaration submitted to the Central Election Commission (CEC), Izetbegović stated that he and his wife Sebija share ownership of a house and land, without specifying the location of these properties. He also listed his wife as the owner of an apartment and a car. Izetbegović estimated the total value of his assets at 520,000 KM. According to the documents, the house and land are located in Poljine. The land of one and a half dunams was purchased in 2003 for 75,000 KM, and the house was built later. In the same year, Sebija Izetbegović bought an apartment and a garage on Bjelašnica for 100,000 KM.

Journalists discovered that, in addition to this, the Izetbegovićs own more land in Poljine, in co-ownership with Okerić. They purchased the undeclared plot in September 2012 for 243,250 KM, and subsequently, Izetbegović and Okerić also bought an access road for 7,922 KM. According to land registry documents, Okerić owns half of the nearly five dunams of land, and the Izetbegović couple owns the other half.

Bakir Izetbegović did not provide a comment to journalists, even after a two-month wait.

According to the Election Law of BiH, every candidate is obliged to report the total amount and source of income from the previous year, as well as the value of assets worth more than 5,000 KM: houses, apartments, land, companies, business premises, and cars. They are also obliged to report savings, amounts in bank accounts, the value of stocks, bonds, as well as debts. In addition to their own assets, politicians are obliged to report the assets of their immediate family members in the declarations submitted to the CEC.

This institution states that it is left to the politicians' conscience whether they will disclose all their possessions, but that they cannot be punished if they do not. Previously, their asset declarations were published on their website, allowing citizens to view politicians' assets, but a decision by the Appellate Panel of the Court of BiH required them to be removed from the site. For now, the only option is to view the declarations at the CEC premises in Sarajevo.

Apartments of Špirić's Children

According to data obtained by journalists, the vice-president of SNSD and representative in the BiH Federal Parliament, Velimir Kunić, also failed to report a house with a yard in his hometown of Drvar. According to cadastral documents, this property has an area of 199 square meters. Kunić told CIN that the house was devastated during the war and only the walls remained, and that the family has not used it for twenty years. "Its value is zero," Kunić said.

In his asset declaration, he stated that he owns an apartment in this city worth 20,000 KM, and his wife Slađa owns an apartment in Banja Luka worth ten times more. Kunić is again running for a seat in the House of Representatives of the Federation of BiH.

His party colleague, Nikola Špirić, in his 2012 asset declaration, filled out before being appointed Minister of Finance and Treasury of BiH, stated, among other things, that he owns an apartment in Novi Sad, that his son Aleksandar owns an apartment in Belgrade, and his daughter Jovana owns an apartment in Vienna. Two years later, in the declaration for this year's elections, he omitted these three apartments, stating that his children now live in separate households. He is running for the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament.

Špirić did not respond to calls. Journalists also called the number for the apartment in Novi Sad, which is listed in the Serbian phone directory under the name of a state minister.

Another candidate for the state parliament, Zlatko Lagumdžija, provided detailed information about his assets and income in the declarations he filled out since 2002, but in 2010, he failed to report some properties or their actual value and origin.

Thus, he did not report an apartment in the center of Sarajevo that his wife Amina bought in September 2006 for 145,000 KM. Lagumdžija told CIN journalists in a previous conversation that he did not report the apartment because it was the apartment of his wife's company. However, at that time, the apartment was registered in his wife Amina's name in the land registry. In this year's declaration, Lagumdžija confirmed that his wife owns the apartment and explained that her company uses the apartment as business premises.

Furthermore, in his asset declarations, he lists the property in the Sarajevo settlement of Poljine as an inheritance, even though he bought it together with his father-in-law. Lagumdžija also did not disclose the exact amount invested in the construction of a weekend house in Poljine and the development of the land.

Fahrudin Radončić, a candidate for the Presidency of BiH, failed to report in his asset declaration that he is a co-owner, along with his brothers Šemsudin and Mersudin, of 5,400 square meters of land in Plav, Montenegro. Radončić told CIN that it is an inheritance that he left to his brother Šemsudin. However, according to land registry documents from Montenegro, Radončić is still a co-owner of this property. Officials at the Real Estate Administration of that country told CIN journalists that the ownership status of this property has not changed since 1996.

Undeclared Business Premises

This year's candidates for the Sarajevo Canton Assembly, Ivo Komšić and Esed Radeljaš, have not yet submitted their asset declarations for this year, as according to the Election Law of BiH, candidates for this level submit forms to the CEC only one month after the elections.

However, an inspection of the land registries shows that in their previously submitted asset declarations, they concealed certain assets - business premises and land.

Komšić is currently the mayor of the City of Sarajevo. In his 2010 asset declaration, he omitted to report three business premises in Sarajevo measuring 17, 28, and 70 square meters. According to documents from the Land Registry Office of the Municipal Court in Sarajevo, Komšić has owned these premises since December 2005.

He told CIN journalists that he bought the business premises for his children, i.e., for their company. "It was mine when it was bought. They transferred it, I think, this year. (...) They couldn't, so I had to take out loans, so it was in my name, and then transferred to them," Komšić said.

When asked why he did not report them in 2010, Komšić said that he did not even remember filling out an asset declaration at that time, adding that he was only a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo at the time. According to CEC records, four years ago he filled out an asset declaration as a candidate for the Social Democratic Union for the state parliament. He received 1,648 votes then, which were not enough for a mandate. Three years later, he was elected mayor of Sarajevo.

In his 2010 asset declaration, Komšić stated that he owns a house in Kiseljak and an apartment in Sarajevo, which he valued at 750,000 KM.

Esed Radeljaš, a representative of the Bosnian Party (BOSS) in the Sarajevo Canton Assembly, declared ownership of a 400-square-meter house, a 100-square-meter weekend house, and 2,300 square meters of land in 2010, with a total value of 720,000 KM. However, data obtained by CIN journalists show otherwise.

According to ownership lists and land registry excerpts, Radeljaš also owned land in the Sarajevo settlement of Butmir and in Foča at that time, totaling 19.5 dunams. Although he stated that he owned the house and weekend house, Radeljaš possesses another residential building. He refused to answer journalists' questions about his assets, asking instead: "What right do you have to check my property?"