SARAJEVO, TUZLA, USA, UAE: Why is the owner of Trebević Hills hiding?

The Civil Protection of the Municipality of Stari Grad and a municipal delegation visited the Trebević Hills construction site on Trebević, Republika Srpska, on Friday, October 11. They also assessed a potential landslide in the immediate vicinity. Photos published on the official website of the Municipality show members of the Civil Protection, including municipal mayor Čengić and his associates. However, the photos do not include another man who toured the area with the delegation and later entered the Trebević Hills construction site. 

This man is Denis Prcić or his double, and you can judge for yourself based on the photos below. He introduced himself to Žurnal journalists as Dženan:
- Dženan. Don’t take any photos of me. I am here trying to solve some things, and you are taking pictures of me. 
- Are you here on behalf of the Municipality, Civil protection or some other public institution?
- No.
- Are you here on behalf of the investor?
- No.
- So on whose behalf are you solving things?
- No one’s – he replied before going back to the construction site. 

On Friday, we inquired with the office of the Stari Grad Mayor whether he or someone from the Municipality and Civil Protection had met with anyone near the Trebević Hills construction site. Although we were told that they would “check and let us know”, we did not receive any updates by the time this text was completed, and our calls went unanswered. We tried to obtain information from the inspection of the City of Istočno Sarajevo regarding which inspectors were on-site and who they met with.
-Look here miss, journalist, you asking inspectors like this is a complete nonsense - an employee refused to provide information about the senior officials who were on-site. By the time this text was published, we still had not received a response from the Istočno Sarajevo City Inspection regarding whom they met with on behalf of the investors at this location on October 11 during the site tour.

Indictment against Denis Prcić

In the middle of last year, the Cantonal Court in Tuzla confirmed the indictment against Denis Prcić, based on reasonable suspicion that he committed the continuing crime of abuse of position and authority in connection with fraud in business operations.
- There is well-founded suspicion that from the beginning of March to November 15, 2020, Prcić, as the president and founder of AU BiH, exceeded his official powers by assuming the authority of the AU BiH Board of Directors (UO AU BiH). According to the provisions of the Law on Higher Education of Tuzla Canton and the AU BiH Rules, the Board is exclusively authorized to determine the amount of participation, tuition, and study costs across all three study cycles, said the Prosecutor’s Office.

In another case, Denis Prcić was arrested in July 2021 as part of an investigation by the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina concerning the diploma issued by the American University in Bosnia and Herzegovina to Osman Mehmedagić, the then director of the Intelligence and Security Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

So far, there has been sporadic speculation that Denis Prcić, the president and founder of the American University in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is behind the Trebević Hills project. The ownership remains shrouded in secrecy, and journalists contacted an agent listed in some registers in the United Arab Emirates as the contact for the real owner. He claims to know nothing about it.
Officially, the investor and owner of the project is the company Park Ruža from Tuzla. The Trebević Hills project is financed by the investment company KurtSafir Construction & Development Company from Turkey. Until last November, the owner of Park Ruža was MID Investments LLC from Dover, Delaware, known as an offshore zone. Žurnal journalists attempted to contact the owner, but only an agent was listed as the representative, who also serves as the contact for other companies. The business practices and lack of transparency are reminiscent of any offshore company, where the real owners remain unknown. 

In November 2023, the owner of Park Ruža becomes another company - ownership transferred from America to the United Arab Emirates. The company MID Global Development FZ-LLC is registered in the Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone (RAKEZ) and specializes in investment consulting.
In one of the UAE registers, we found a phone number and email for a contact person—an agent who serves as the contact for numerous companies from Southeast Europe operating in the Emirates
We ask her to get us in touch with the owners of the company, but she claimed to have no connection to MID Global Development and does not know how her contacts ended up in the register in the Emirates:
- We are listed as contact only in case of language barrier during registration, so the system, which is online, has automatically uploaded our information– she said to Žurnal.

The contracted capital of this company is as much as 33.1 million BAM. 

While the establishment of offshore companies is legal, they are often associated with money laundering and tax evasion.
It is not unusual for large corporations to enter a business, acquire another company, and use offshore entities to conceal their involvement. However, it is important to note that, ultimately, their identities are often revealed, explains Semir Mujkić, a journalist and editor at BIRN, an investigative media outlet that has covered this topic multiple times.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mujkić says, this practice is frequently abused to hide the trail of money and the identity of the owner:
- Essentially, offshore companies are often misused for money laundering. For many companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina with some level of offshore ownership, it remains unclear why they would be part of such ownership structure.
Our interlocutor notes that those looking to exploit this possibility are aided by the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina has never enacted a law on beneficial ownership of companies:
- This was done, for example, by North Macedonia, which required individuals with offshore ownership to disclose their true owner. Often, the contact or ownership information does not reflect the real owners. Such a law would compel the actual owners to reveal their identities, allowing us to determine whether they are politicians or businessmen trying to conceal themselves or launder money.
It is noteworthy to mention that the contracted capital of the companies discussed in this text is 33 million BAM, and the ownership is shifting from America to the UAE.
- What always raises a red flag is the presence of multiple interconnected offshore companies. This structure is often used to obscure the trail of money and ownership. For instance, one company might be registered in the British Virgin Islands, another in Delaware, US, which is also an offshore zone, and a third in another part of the world. If someone moves, it’s likely that the money hasn’t actually changed locations; rather, it was always in once place, only someone wants to hide the trail. Large companies and significant investment funds rarely register in an offshore zone in America and then in the Emirates.

Following the floods in Jablanica and Konjic, which also resulted in human casualties, there is increasing concern about the potential issues that construction on Trebević may pose for Canton Sarajevo. In a film we released earlier this year, our interlocutors warned of such dangers. The mayor of Istočno Sarajevo, Ljubiša Ćosić, expressed fears that the entire project could “end up in Skenderija”.
The permit for the construction of this facility was issued by the Municipality of Istočni Stari Grad. We inquired with both the investor and the Municipality whether an environmental impact assessment or study had been conducted. While we did not receive a response from the investor, the Municipality informed Žurnal that all necessary documentation was submitted to the Urban Planning Service when issuing the permit for the construction of the Trebević Hills building complex, in accordance with the applicable legal regulations for the area:
- We would like to note that a Rulebook outlining the projects for which an environmental impact assessment is required, along with the criteria for determining the necessity and scope of such assessments is in force in Republika Srpska. This Rulebook specifies which projects require an environmental impact assessment.

Since we did not receive a concrete answer regarding whether the study was conducted, we followed up to ask specifically if it was done for this project. The lack of response leads us to reasonably assume that the study does not exist; if it did, it is unclear why it would be concealed from the public, along with the identity of its designer and the time of its preparation.

We have earlier reported that the Municipality of Istočni Stari Grad did not request an environmental impact study for the construction of Roof Gardens, another large building complex built on Trebević. An elaboration of the Environmental Protection Measures for the Roof Gardens building complex was issued by the Prijedor Mining Institute in September 2021, includes measures for protecting land, water, noise, air quality, and assessing the project’s impact on the quality of these. We have raised these concerns in our previous texts and in the film The Killing of the Olympic Mountains.

CONSTRUCTION ON TREBEVIĆ CONTINUESIt can be done without permits or even by a foreign national and an unregistered company

When institutions in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina justify their lack of response to the potential danger by stating that their “hands are tied” because the building is being constructed in another entity, it raises concerns. The inter-entity body for the environment is responsible for coordinating projects from one entity that may impact another, such as the Trebević Hills project. Its members come from the relevant ministries of both entities. The Ministry of Spatial Planning of Republika Srpska has requested information from the City of Istočno Sarajevo regarding the Trebević Hills project, as no representatives from this body were involved in the project’s planning phase:
- It is evident that no one has taken this seriously, because if they had, we would have been aware of it, said Mehmed Cero, a member of the Inter-Entity Body for the Environment representing the Federation Ministry of Tourism, in our film.

On Tuesday, October 15, a session of the Inter-Entity Body was held, where this issue was discussed. After learning that the Federation Administration for Inspection Affairs had visited the site and found that construction material from the Trebević Hills site was being dumped from the territory of Republika Srpska, affecting Bistrički creek, they reached out to the Inspection of Republika Srpska and referred the matter to the Inter-Entity Body as the coordinating authority:
- We have requested this information from the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction, and Ecology of Republika Srpska, and once we receive all the data, we will discuss it at the session. They also lack information on the matter, and even their jurisdiction is questionable, despite having established the Trebević Nature Park in RS under this ministry’s authority. All permits were issued prior to this, which leaves them with limited options, as the project falls under the jurisdiction of the Municipality of Istočni Stari Grad. It is now expected that the RS Inspectorate will take action and provide information on what needs to be done to prevent further threat from the dumped material – said Mehmed Cero for Žurnal.



In the meantime, the investor of Trebević Hills issued a statement rejecting the accusations that the construction violates regulations and that it will cause a landslide at the site of Bistrički Creek:
- We have invested significant knowledge, working hours, materials, and funds, implementing measures that, in a positive sense, even exceed what is prescribed. To ensure the static stability of the complex, we conducted geophysical surveys twice and completed reports on the protection of the Zlatište - Brus road belt and the foundation pit at the Institute of Geotechnics and Geology of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Sarajevo. Additionally, we created about 600 hydrogeological test wells and conducted analyses at the Civil Engineering Institute in Tuzla. We also built 160 piles, each 1 meter wide and ranging from 16 to 30 meters in length, which are construction projects that, due to their quality and static capacity, are unprecedented in our area.

The Federation Civil Protection Administration reports that deep cracks have been observed, which have since filled with water due to rainfall. There is also water runoff above the Curine Njive playground site (part of the Municipality of Istočni Stari Grad Sarajevo). Additionally, it has been determined that above the playground plot at the Curina Njiva location, which is the lowest point of the embankment/dump from the Trebević Hills construction site (on the left), water is continually flowing away and it does not originate from rainfall or stormwater runoff from Trebević:
- An inspection of the Bistrički Creek site on October 13 revealed that the creek bed is still partially filled with material from the landfill and fallen trees. No new deposits of soil, stone, or trees from the landfill were observed. A regular observation of the terrain is planned for the night and early morning hours of October 14, to be conducted by employees of the Civil Protection Service of the Municipality of Stari Grad Sarajevo, along with the protection and rescue services of the same municipality – said the Federation Civil Protection Administration.

At the extraordinary session of the civil protection headquarters, conclusions were reached regarding emergency measures based on the Preliminary Report from the Construction Institute of Sarajevo Canton dated October 9, 2024. These measures aim to protect the lives and property of citizens in endangered areas, according to the Municipality of Stari Grad Sarajevo.
The conclusions on urgent measures to address the landslide in Bostarići, in the local community of Širokača, task the civil protection service with requesting assistance from the FBiH Civil Protection Administration through the Cantonal Civil Protection Administration. This is aimed at urgently halting further dumping of materials at the landfill and removing the existing landfill due to the dangers posed by the landslide, which is spreading toward the buildings in the foothills. The civil protection service is also instructed to seek help from the Cantonal Civil Protection Administration for the removal of fallen trees and debris from the bed of the Bistrički Creek. Additionally, it was decided to:
 - An evacuation plan for the Bostarići area is being developed, and a 24-hour emergency watch is organized to monitor the situation and react quickly in case of danger. Furthermore, a call center to provide information to citizens has been set up – said the Municipality Stari Grad. 

The Service for Inspection Affairs is responsible for contacting the relevant inspection bodies in the entity of Republika Srpska to inform them of the measures outlined in the preliminary report from the Institute for Construction of Sarajevo Canton. The Civil Protection Service will request daily drone recordings of the site from the Ministry of Interior of Sarajevo Canton and the Police Administration to monitor the situation on the ground and any possible changes. Additionally, the Government of Canton Sarajevo and the Federation Commodity Reserves Directorate will be asked to make their resources available in case of population evacuation.
Žurnal inquired with Public Forestry Enterprise “Šume Republike Srpske” about whom and when they issued a permit for cutting trees at the site where Trebević Hills is being constructed, and to what extent. However, we did not receive a response by the time this text was concluded.

(zurnal.info)