Central Insurance, led by Markotić and Zadro, moves into Ljiljanko Palac's building in Sarajevo

The Kumrovec residential and commercial building, built by Herzegovinian tycoon Ljiljanko Palac in 2008 in the Čengić Vila neighborhood, has stood empty for years, but soon a part of the 18-story building will house the newly established Central Insurance, writes the Bosnian news agency Patria. Workers are busily preparing the building. A sign reading "Central Insurance" has been placed at the top of the building.

Central Insurance was founded at the end of June by the CEPS College of Business Studies Kiseljak and Centar Gradnja d.o.o. Široki Brijeg. At the helm of Central Insurance are recently dismissed members of the Management Board of Croatia osiguranje d.d. Ljubuški, director Mladen Markotić and executive director Viktor Zadro. Markotić was charged with illegal actions while at Croatia osiguranje. He is accused of nearly destroying this insurance company.

We recall that this building was intended to house numerous agencies and institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the smaller business building, the Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina purchased space, and besides them, the Office of the Ombudsman of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Postal Traffic Agency, the Office of the Representative of the Council of Ministers before the European Court of Human Rights, the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees, and the Return Fund are also located there.

Incidentally, Palac is one of the financiers of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and besides his company in Široki Brijeg, he has founded the company Herpal in Sarajevo.

In 2009, the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina purchased two thousand square meters of business space in this building for the needs of the Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at an exorbitant price of 12 million KM. This purchase was investigated by the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) at the time, on the order of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, because there was reasonable suspicion that then-State Minister of Finance Dragan Vrankić and the director of the Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dragan Prusina, had arranged the business deal with Ljiljanko Palac much earlier, and it is alleged that Palac "rewarded" Vrankić and then-Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nikola Špirić, with 400,000 KM for this.

Palac came into the public spotlight again in January of this year when he sold 96 dunams of land from the former company Drvna industrija Bjelašnica to the Hadžići Municipality for 5.3 million KM. Interestingly, Palac bought DI Bjelašnica in 2006 for only 200,000 KM. At that time, the plants were still operating, and workers were earning wages. After Palac's arrival, production quickly ceased, and an investigation into this suspicious privatization was not conducted. Palac earned more than 5 million KM from this sale.