Sarajevo and Ljubljana Prosecutor's Offices Investigating NLB Group Fraud: What is Zijad Blekić's Role?

According to sources from the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo and the Special Prosecutor's Office of Ljubljana, a large and complex investigation into fraud committed against NLB Ljubljana by Armin Mulahusić and Daver Halilbegović and their company Profin-Invest is nearing completion in Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The name of controversial businessman Zijad Blekić is also linked to this, the Patria News Agency has unofficially learned.

Given that it is a state-owned bank and the direct damage amounts to over 20 million euros, with indirect damage exceeding tens of millions of euros, the Slovenian government is very interested in this case.

In addition to the above, the Municipal Court in Sarajevo recently accepted Profin-Invest's lawsuit and ruled that NLB is obliged to compensate Profin-Invest for alleged damages caused by the non-realization of the NLB Group headquarters construction project in BiH, despite NLB Ljubljana being defrauded.

The Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo is particularly interested in this case due to the case of Ibrahim Jusufranić, former director of GRAS Sarajevo.

Jusufranić was recently arrested for embezzlement at GRAS and then released, as the case reportedly has weak grounds, meaning there is insufficient evidence against him.

Thus, the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office is forced to intensify the investigation into Jusufranić's sale of land – owned by the company Unioninvest Building Construction – to Profin-Invest for the construction of the NLB Group headquarters in BiH.

NLB Ljubljana, as the investor, was harmed by this sale, and Jusufranić allegedly, according to data held by investigative bodies, acquired a huge amount of money in this deal, which he later invested in launching the University of Travnik.

The fact is that the investigation into the sale of the aforementioned land has been dormant at the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office for years, which can also be linked to the personal connections of Zijad Blekić, who is also involved in the alleged NLB Ljubljana fraud.

Armin Mulahusić and his partner in Profin-Invest, Daver Halilbegović, have reportedly been hastily selling properties registered in their names and their wives' names, while Blekić is selling his brokerage firm Eurohaus, through which NLB Ljubljana's money was siphoned off. Based on this, it can be concluded that they know the investigation is nearing its end and that they could soon be held accountable for the committed crime.