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Bosnia, Slovenia, Probe Hefty Loan to Jansa Party

January 17, 201808:50
Bosnia and Slovenia are probing a large loan that former Slovenian prime minister Janez Jansa's party received from an obscure businesswomen in Bosnia.
Slovenian prime minister Janez Jansa. Photo: EPP

Bosnian and Slovenian prosecutors are investigating a 450,000-euros loan that the Slovenian Democratic Party, the party of former Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, took from a little known Bosnian businesswoman.

“We have got some information from Slovenia. The BiH Prosecutor’s Office and competent police agencies are undertaking certain activities. We cannot talk about the details,” the Bosnian prosecutor’s office told Bosnian media on Tuesday.

The biggest opposition party in the Slovenian parliament obtained the loan of nearly half a million euros just before the New Year from a little known businesswoman, Dijana Djudjic.

“The amount has been broken up into three parts, with the loan agreement set to last until 2019. To secure the loan, a share in the company Nova Obzorja [New Horizons] was set aside as collateral,” Jansa told a press conference, defending the loan, on Wednesday, January 10.

“We found that person through a company we own,” Jansa said, concerning Djudjic, adding that the loan had been verified by a notary.

However, Slovenian media question the legality of the loan, noting that the law in the country limits the size of loans that parties can receive in one year to ten times the average gross monthly wage.

Therefore, the Slovenian authorities have also opened investigations, and Jansa’s party has since terminated the contract and reportedly returned the first, and the only tranche of the loan taken out so far, with the corresponding interest rates.

As Djudjic is not well known in business circles either in Bosnia or Slovenia, some Slovenian media have raised concerns about money laundering.

Slovenian journalists on January 10 visited the Bosnian town of Prijedor where Djudjic was born and apparently lives but did not locate her.

Instead, they were taken for questioning by the local police while filming an investigation. After releasing them, police said the journalists had been brought in after citizens complained.

Slovenian media have claimed also that Djudjic is a close contact of Slovenian businessman Roko Snezic, whose nickname is “tax magician”.

Although Snezic has denied knowing Djudjic, the Slovenian daily Vecer published a video of them in a restaurant in the Bosnian town of Banja Luka, about 50 kilometres from Prijedor.