Bosnian ex-Minister Charged With Subsidies Scam

Former Federation Agriculture Minister Jerko Ivankovic Lijanovic and Tuzla Canton Trade Minister Edin Ajanovic were among five people arrested on Monday for alleged wrongdoings in agricultural subsidies distribution, Tuzla cantonal prosecutor said.

The Prosecutor's Office noted that among the arrested were also Suad Camdzic, the former minister's adviser, Mersed Serifovic, the former minister's political representative in Tuzla, and another person from Odzak allegedly in charge of the tracking of financial aid for agriculture in the Federation entity.

The Tuzla Prosecutor's Office said Lijanovic was suspected of having organized an association that misused payment of subsidies in agriculture in Tuzla Canton and in the Federation over at least three years.

According to the statement, the former minister in the Federation entity government from 2011 to 2014 pressured farmers who received subsidies to pay back half of the money they received to the members of his association.

BIRN reported on these allegations in 2013, revealing suspicions of the model being used to suck out money that was supposed to go towards agriculture in the Federation entity, as well as about the former minister's other affairs.

The Prosecutor's Office said it suspected that Lijanovic and members of the association "in this period gained around 700,000 KM [some 360,000 euro] and that they also... tried to gain a larger sum of money, to which some farmers did not agree".

Lijanovic is Vice-President of People's Party Work for Progress, NSRZB, which he leads with his brother, the party president, Mladen Ivankovic Lijanovic.

Other arrested on Monday were either members of or related to the party. The party responded to the...