Slovenian tycoon Mihael Strmljan suspected of evading taxes and money laundering through fictitious contracts with fictitious companies from BiH!

By: Avdo Avdić/Istraga

Slovenian tycoon Mihael Strmljan is one of the main suspects in the international investigation "ATM" conducted by police and judicial agencies of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia, Istraga.ba has learned. Besides him, Slovenian businessmen Domen and Miloš Prešern, Miroslav Vidaković, Jasmina Tatarovac Šuštaršič, Bržan Klavdija, Klemen Mesarič, Vojko Lazič are also under investigation... Together with citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, they are suspected of laundering around 4.4 million KM. Here are the details.

This criminal organization, according to documents that Istraga.ba had access to, began operating in October 2016. The main person who connected BiH citizens and Slovenians was Elvin Omanović. The group used fictitious contracts to withdraw money from their companies to avoid paying taxes. The money was later laundered through Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they were assisted by Samir Ičanović, Jasmin Hodžić, Haris Hećo, Elvedin Maslo, Aleksandar Batić, Semko Ćosatović, and others.

Businessman Mihael Strmljan is one of the founders of the company "Aktiva skupina", where Jasmina Tatarovac-Šuštaršič worked as the responsible person. Businessman Vojko Lazić is the director of the company Acolav, which was involved in cleaning in Ljubljana. Klavdija Bržan was the responsible person at Primabe doo Ljubljana, a company engaged in accounting services. Klemen Mesarič managed the company "Mesarič Transport". At the same time, companies XTRM, Toreks, JP Konto were founded in Slovenia. These three companies soon opened branches in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which were used to withdraw money. Toreks d.o.o. Ljubljana, for example, has been in bankruptcy since February 27, 2019. Their representative office in Bosnia and Herzegovina was established in 2016 in Sarajevo. They operated for only one year. They had no employees, and their turnover was around 143 thousand KM. The company XTRM d.o.o. also established its representative office in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This company, XTRM, was deregistered in Slovenia in December 2022.

It allegedly dealt with "computer programming". The representative office of XTRM in Bosnia and Herzegovina was established on October 21, 2021. The activity listed is – market research and public opinion polling. The representative office is registered in Zenica. There are no financial reports for these companies.

The company J&P Konto existed in Slovenia until May 7, 2022. It allegedly dealt with marketing and other services.

This company also established a representative office in BiH, specifically in Zenica. The representative office was established on September 16, 2020. The listed activity was "marketing services". The representative office had two accounts, and both were closed.

The founders of these fictitious companies in Slovenia and BiH were Elvin Omanović, Elvedin Maslo, Aleksandar Batić, and Semko Ćatović. These fictitious companies were used by Slovenian businessmen to withdraw money from their businesses. They signed fictitious contracts with fictitious companies, then transferred the money to Bosnia and Herzegovina. This money was then withdrawn in Slovenia via business cards.

The documents in the possession of Istraga state that the businessmen drew up fictitious contracts for the execution of fictitious services. Although they knew that no services were performed, the owners of the Slovenian companies paid the invoices issued by the fictitious companies. Investigators registered a total of 153 suspicious transactions related to Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a total value of 4.4 million KM. Most of the money was transferred through the company Lumnia d.o.o. Ljubljana.

The founder is Samir Ićanović. Lumnia's representative office in Bosnia and Herzegovina was established on October 6, 2019. The company is registered in Zenica.

There are no business reports for this company in the databases, whose activity is "market research and public opinion polling". However, documents in the possession of Istraga prove that a total of 80 transactions worth 2.49 million KM were conducted through this fictitious company. BiH citizens, with the help of a bank employee, then transferred the money to other accounts, converted it, and withdrew cash in Slovenia via business cards. In this way, Slovenian businessmen avoided paying taxes in their home country by using fictitious companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The most prominent name, as we said, is the Slovenian tycoon Mihael Stmljan. He is one of the richest Slovenians and the founder of the company "Aktiva Grupa". Mihael Strmljan started as a window cleaner in his family business in high school, and today, according to Slovenian media reports, he is the CEO of a concern with about two thousand employees and the largest cleaning service in Slovenia.