No one checked the origin of the money: High officials of the Islamic Community opened Ramiz's mosque in Međeđa

At the end of September, we had the opportunity to witness the grand opening of the mosque in Kaoštice. The mosque was opened in the presence of numerous believers and ulema. Hasan Čengić, President of the Sabor of the Islamic Community, and Goražde Mufti Remzija ef. Pitić were present, as well as Banja Luka Mufti Edhem ef. Čamdžić, who appeared as the Reis's envoy, writes the Patria news agency.  

The name Ramiz Džaferović is associated with numerous scandals in this country. His latest scandals concern the management of the Development Bank of the Federation. The Financial Police of the Federation found a series of criminal acts he committed while at the Development Bank.

However, no one took steps to legally confirm them. Prosecutors regularly remained silent on these criminal loan practices. Namely, the obvious and documented abuses of official position by the then director of the Development Bank did not interest the Prosecutor's Office. By some miracle, outdated cases were always pulled from court and prosecution drawers against Džaferović. Of course, he was acquitted in those stale cases and would triumphantly leave the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo.

Money and Hands Laundering

There are cases at the Development Bank that speak of abuses by both the Chairman of the Management Board, Džaferović, and the convocation of the Supervisory Board, to which party loyalists were regularly delegated. There were also instances of taking over debts from other banks to help some failed companies in Mostar, where HDZ leader Dragan Čović once served as director.

There is also the answer to the friendship between these two.

The report of the Financial Police of the Federation contains direct instances of money being taken for the private company of Director Džaferović. It is not difficult to prove numerous personal loans after loan approvals, which were later converted into business for his auditing firm. Some individuals reported these loan cases, but again, the judiciary failed.  

The Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina should be the moral pillar and spiritual strength of the Bosniak people. However, this moral pillar is making mistakes again that will not be erased. We say again because it has already issued letters of gratitude to individuals accused of crime. For example, the Medžlis of the Islamic Community in Tuzla issued a letter of gratitude for the donation of Tasim Kučević. Kučević helped build a mosque in Demirovići near Ljubače, provided construction material for two more mosques and a library in Pasci near Tuzla. Kučević was later sentenced to 14 years for organizing prostitution, human trafficking, and money laundering.

Kelmendi the biggest waqif

One of the biggest waqifs (donors) of the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina was Naser Kelmendi, who, according to witnesses, donated 100,000 KM to the mosque in Plandištima near Ilidža. Kelmendi is still on trial in Kosovo for drug trafficking and money laundering.

One of the key questions concerns precisely the suspicious receipt of money. Can any religious community, regardless of its autonomy, accept money if it does not know its origin? When the state Law on Money Laundering was being drafted, no one proposed such a possibility. Although all their rights are respected, religious communities cannot be outside the legal and financial system, not even in the European Union.

Many remember history and indulgences, which were certificates for the redemption of church sins. That was a medieval invention for the profit and sustenance of the clergy. What is happening in the Islamic Community of BiH unfortunately resembles those medieval redemptions of sins.         

Kaoštice is part of a group of villages whose inhabitants reluctantly use the official name Međeđa.

When the mosque was opened, stories began to circulate in this part of Eastern Bosnia, prone to humor. A whisper started that Džaferović's mosque in Međeđa was consecrated after five years of waiting. Until the moral and political unsuitability of the waqif and his suspicious financial dealings were somewhat forgotten.