SIPA investigating illegalities and money squandering in the Taekwondo Association of BiH

Fokus.ba has come into possession of extensive documentation, as well as messages and statements by people in positions mentioning malfeasances in the Taekwondo association of Bosnia and Herzegovina pointing out the squandering of money made by the Association. Furthermore, we have spoken to the people of the Association accusing each other of criminal activities. 

The State investigation and protection agency (SIPA), as we have found out, has opened an investigation in this case, as is pointed out in the act of the director of SIPA Darko Ćulum which we have in our possession.

Ćulum indicated, in an act sent out to the Ministry of Justice of BiH, at the end of February this year, that the member of the Presidency and the governing board of the Taekwondo Association of BiH Branislav Njegovan reported alleged irregularities in the Association which are happening through the Secretary General and the Executive board for Olympic Taekwondo “deliberately contrary to the Statute since 2013 obstructing the opening of a unified bank account of the Association”.

Furthermore, as is mentioned in the director of SIPA's act, all financial activities are done through the account of the Executive board for Olympic Taekwondo, which some individuals are using for their own personal gain.

-Supposedly, at the end of 2022, the memorandum of the Association was used for the application for financial aid from the Ministry of Civil Affairs of BiH without the authorization of the President, misleading the Ministry in the process to grant them 30.000 KM. In the same manner, they have been getting substantial financial funds from the Ministry of Civil Affairs and other institutions via donations, sponsorships or regular fundings, even though the Executive board has no authority to apply for any funds, as this is, according to the Statute, the exclusive right and duty of the Governing board and the President – states the SIPA director's act.

As Ćulum further states, Njegovan has pointed out that the stamps of the Presidency and the Governing board are in his possession, so the secretary general and the members of the Executive board for Olympic Taekwondo use an invalid stamp to notarize documents, thus abusing their positions and accumulate wealth against the law, all at the expense of the Association and its members.

He also stated that the balance sheet from the end of 2021 shows 60.000 KM missing from the account of the Executive board for Olympic Taekwondo, which “the deputy of the secretary general was trying to cover up”.

Ćulum has notified the administrative inspectorate of the Ministry of Justice of BiH, that, according to their jurisdiction, perform an inspection over the work of the Taekwondo Association of BiH. He has notified SIPA of everything.

False representation

Branislav Njegovan, who is the current member of the presidency of the Taekwondo Association of BiH, has disclosed the details of the irregularities in this Association. He recalls that there is a decision from 2013 about opening a main bank account of the Association, but the whole time, “two subaccounts are falsely represented, and one of these is the account of the Executive board for Olympic Taekwondo (WTF)”.

-The Statute states that the executive operative organ is the Governing board. They are the ones who deal with common property and organize competitions. When it comes to two executive boards, they are in essence two commissions who organize the sport inside the Association. They do not have the authority to manage the Association. Igor Đukanović, who is the president of the Executive board, sends application to ministries and presents himself as the person in charge of representing the Association. Everything that is paid to the account of the Executive board, from participation fees to donations etc., all of this belongs to the Association. This way, the Governing board is marginalized – Njegovan points out.

He accentuates the fact that on February 2nd this year, the Executive board for Olympic Taekwondo notified that Veso Arežina gave an irrevocable resignation to all the positions, and that there will be no quorum for the holding of the meeting of that board, because apart from Arežina, member Jevto Đurić was also not present.

-That meeting was held anyway, and they wanted to make decisions to cover illegal actions and they made the decision retroactively to take 30 percent of funds that were granted to the Association from the Ministry of Civil Affairs and other institutions, which have piled up from 2019 to 2022 and stood at 240.000 KM. Also, at that meeting, they made a decision in advance for 2023, which also takes away 30 percent from the Association. It pertains to five events where the income is realistically 700 to 800 thousand KM. For example, only on the event called “Multi European Games” there was more than 80.000 euro of participation fees collected. It's stated clearly in the Statute that the participation fees are property of the Association, while the property of the Association is governed by the Governing board. Organization and competitions are under the governance of the Governing board – states Njegovan.

We checked, in the Article 25 of the Statute of the Taekwondo Association of BiH, which is the integral part of the resolution on the registration of the Association itself in the Ministry of Justice of BiH dating back to June 25th 2013, and it states that the Governing board is the executive and operative organ of the Association, and that it uses the stamp, while Article 28 states that the Governing board is the one implementing the policies, making decisions on the use of funds and establishing the responsibilities for financial dealings, governing the common property of the Association, and making decisions on the organization and the manner of conducting professional and administrative affairs.

Meeting in Livno

Also, Fokus.ba has come into the possession of the decision of the Executive board for Olympic Taekwondo from the meeting held on February 2nd this year in Livno, which is signed by the president of this board, Igor Đukanović. In it, Njegovan's allegations are confirmed.

In one of the decisions that refers to compensations for 2022-2023 it is stated that the members of these bodies are paid fees of 30 percent from the total value of the acquired funds. This is related to the funds from 2022. In another decision, a payment of 30 percent of the total revenue of planned sporting events is ordered to the members of the board.

One of the circular mails from June 5th 2023, sent out to almost all of the members of the organs of the Taekwondo association of BiH, Njegovan is accusing Samir Šarić, the current presiding of the Presidency of the Association and member of the Executive board for Olympic Taekwondo, and Vedran Ćubela, Secretary General of the Association for the aforementioned irregularities. In this mail, it is noted that they have, falsely representing a subaccount of the Executive board for Olympic Taekwondo as the main account of the Association, applied for funding from the Ministry of Civil Affairs of BiH, the Federal Ministry of culture and sport, as well as the Canton Sarajevo Ministry of Culture and Sports.

In one of the acts, which the members of organs of the Taekwondo Association of BiH, as well as SIPA's investigators, are aware of, Njegovan points out that in 2019, 30.000 euro worth of participation fees have been collected from 300 participants for the G1 tournament BiH Open 2019 in Zenica. The funds have been paid to the account of the Executive board.

Furthermore, he states that in December 2020, 22.300 euro was collected from 186 participants for the participation fee for European championship in Olympic categories, while in the same month, 17.800 was collected for the European cadet championship. In 2021, he states, on the same grounds, sums of 53.200 euro and 46.300 euro were collected. In 2022, as he notes, a sum of 46.300 euro was amassed, while in May this year at the Europe Multi Games, 87.000 euro was gathered. He added that this did not include sponsor revenue, nor the revenue from booking accommodation and penalties for participants that did not use official accommodation ranging from 140 KM up to 75 euro.

When it comes to funds that were acquired from institutions in 2020, 2021 and 2022, Njegovan claims he has proof for fundings of 40.000 KM, 100.600 KM and 93.800 KM.

Samir Šarić, who was called out, answered this mail saying that these are blatant lies, while accusing the other Executive board (ITF) of doing nothing. He states that his team of lawyers is preparing to sue Njegovan, and accuses him of stealing 40.000 KM. He concludes that the work of the Executive board for Olympic Taekwondo is completely legal and that not one KM was spent in a non-transparent manner.

Also, Fokus.ba is in possession of a number of messages parents have sent to members of the management of the Taekwondo Association in which they, among other things, said they paid money so that their children would participate in competitions, while the payment slips said that the Association were the ones who paid. 

Šarić’s and the Association’s stance

We confronted the current first man of the Taekwondo Association of BiH Samir Šarić via e-mail with all these facts. Instead of answering, he called the office of Fokus and said he will not answer the mail and accused Njegovan of destroying the Taekwondo Association of BiH together with his allies from FBiH. He said this was his and Ćubela's answer to our inquiry.

However, not long after that, we did get a written answer from the Taekwondo Association of BiH, in which they say that “these lies are pushed through the media to ruin the integrity of one of the most stable and best organized associations in BiH”.

-All the activities undertaken on the question of representing persons for representation and application to public calls are legal and according to the Statute of TKDSBiH. I claim this because we have a legal interpretation of this from the Ministry of Justice of BiH, which we got recently. All the meetings of the management and operative organs inside TKDSBiH have been held in accordance with the Statute of TKDSBiH. The decision for the distribution of funds from 2022 haven't been paid to anyone and the decision itself has been renewed given the fact that it is ten years old (also, no funds have ever been paid on its grounds).

As far as the parents’ messages, we, as the Taekwondo Association of BiH communicate exclusively with clubs who are members of the Taekwondo Association of BiH, and not with parents – states the Taekwondo Association of BiH.

Their answer also adds that the secretary general of the Taekwondo Association of RS has filed a criminal charge against the president of that Association Branislav Njegovan that claims he has abused his function and power in order to transfer 40.000 KM from the account of the Taekwondo Association of RS to his club's account.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs told us that they haven't found any irregularities when evaluating the grant, but that they cannot officially comment on the investigation of the authorities.