The United States has imposed sanctions on the head of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Bosniak-Croat federation and others over the alleged misuse of pensioner data.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Prime Minister Fadil Novalic on October 3, saying he acquired pensioner data through his official position in the week before the 2018 elections and used it “for the benefit of his own political party and contrary to [Bosnian] law.”
Novalic allegedly misused the data by sending out letters listing his accomplishments and promising increased pensions, the Treasury Department said in a statement.
Additionally, Bosnian tycoon Slobodan Stankovic and his engineering firm Integral Inzenjering A.D. Laktasi were blacklisted for allegedly having links to corruption.
The Treasury Department said major construction projects are often handed to Stankovic's firm without fair and open competition and that the vast majority of Stankovic’s wealth comes from public money.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken referred to the sanctions on Twitter, saying political parties and leaders "should not be able to use public resources for their own benefit, and people should not get rich helping them."
The Treasury Department described Stankovic as one of the wealthiest people in Bosnia and said he was linked to Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, who was previously designated for U.S. sanctions for “secessionist rhetoric" and actions that threaten "stability and undermine" the Dayton peace accords.
The sanctions designation freezes any assets or property interests owned by Novalic, Stankovic, or his engineering firm in the United States and bars U.S. nationals from transactions involving them without special permission from the OFAC.
“Today’s action underscores how politicians in Bosnia and Herzegovina are undermining democratic institutions and processes for their own political gain and to reward their patronage networks,” Brian Nelson, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in the department’s statement on October 3.
“We will continue to target those that destabilize the region, as well as their supporters, and hold them to account.”
The sanctions come less than a week after the Treasury Department levied sanctions on a Bosnian state prosecutor accused of being complicit in corruption and undermining democratic processes in the Western Balkans.
Treasury called Diana Kajmakovic a “brazenly corrupt state prosecutor with links to criminal organizations." She was designated for sanctions on September 26.
