The municipality of Bosansko Grahovo is one of the poorest and most underdeveloped municipalities in BiH and the wider region.
There are many reasons for this, from the fact that Grahovo is mostly a returnee municipality inhabited by Serbs before the war, while after the Dayton Peace Agreement, this town “belonged” to Croatian territories in FBiH. After the war, Serbs returned to this city again, whose candidates most often won the elections for local administration. In recent years, interestingly, Milorad Dodik's SNSD and SNS have alternated in power here, probably the second most influential party of Serb returnees in the FBiH. Although Dodik and the president of Serbia and the parent SNS, Aleksandar Vučić, are, at least formally, on the best possible terms, the same cannot be said for the leaders of the local committees of these parties in municipalities in FBiH.
Grahovo, although extremely rich in natural resources, was known even before the war as a kind of “purified” air zone (or spa) in the former SFRY, since the war until now it has been leading, unfortunately, in negative trends. Until recently, they didn't even have an adequate Health Center, so for any serious health check-up, they have to go to Livno, which is about 70 kilometres away. Bosansko Grahovo is the only municipality in Livanja Canton without a secondary school and the only one with only one primary school in operation.
The football club Grahovo used to be the pride of the residents of Grahovo, and today there is not a single registered football player. Nevertheless, despite this, the club is supported by the municipality and received written support thanks to which it received financial resources from the Government of Serbia and from Canton 10 to which Grahovo belongs.
The current mayor of the municipality, Uroš Đuran (SNSD), signed a recommendation on behalf of the Municipality of Grahovo to FC Grahovo to hold the “YOUTH TOURNAMENT PREODAC 2022”, in connection with the public invitation issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the diaspora and Serbs in the Region. The said tournament has not yet been held.
Duško Radun is the president of the SNS party in FBiH, and he was also the mayor of the Bosansko Grahovo municipality from October 2015 to October 2018, when, as he says, was dismissed thanks to the “behind-the-scenes intrigues of the SNSD of Milorad Dodik”.
Radun claims for the Gerila portal that Dragan Salić is the president, founder and de facto owner of several associations in B. Grahovo, all of which are registered at one address – Sarajevska 1, and that all these associations serve exclusively to obtain financial benefits for Salić himself since none of these associations have any registered members.
“KUD Grahovo was supposed to hold the event “Play with Serbian Kolo and eat everything from the table” and money was received from Serbia in the amount of 200,000 dinars, but it was never held because there is not a single member of this KUD. The only KUD that exists in Grahovo is the SKUD “Gavrilo Princip” which is not on the budget of the Municipality of B. Grahovo, which did not receive money or help from Serbia because they, the authorities, constantly ignore us and write recommendations only for the non-existent KUD Grahovo. SKUD “Gavrilo Princip”, of which I am the president, has not been able to get a recommendation for help from Serbia for years, regardless of the fact that we exist, work and have around 70 members,” Radun tells Gerila.
“As for the football tournament, by chance, I am still an active football player, I lead a team in Drvar. I tried to arrange with that Salić to make a memorial tournament in memory of a player who tragically lost his life, that was 7-8 years ago, and that Salić collected the money and in the end kept that money for himself. I recently called him and said that if I enter the cantonal assembly, and I will enter because I am the holder of the list, that I will do everything as a deputy and delegate in the House of Peoples, Parliament of the FBiH to clean up all his machinations,” said Radun.
Radun points out that the Municipality of Bosansko Grahovo allocated 10,000 KM each for the renovation of the NK/FK Grahovo stadium, as well as for the KUD Grahovo, for which the premises of the Miloš Tica elementary school in the village of Preodac should be arranged.
“In Preoc itself, the village where that school is located, not even five families live, nor is there any need for any offices there. Salić is a native of that village. Salić uses it skillfully, he seems to restore some of the ruins. On the other hand, Mile Princip asked the municipality to give him that school so that he could use his own resources to renovate that space for accommodation for tourists, but that was refused, and now they have given Salić space and money for the renovation of that school. The same was done with FK Grahovo, which is given money and that club does not have a single member, not even in the younger categories. And now the municipality has given 10,000 KM for the repair of sanitary facilities for such a club, I simply cannot believe it. Through that part of the recommendations, it is clearly seen that Dragan Salić arranged a “deal” with Uroš Đuran and that they have been doing it for years. Salić also owns the Center for the Development and Economy of Villages, FK Grahovo, KUD Grahovo, he wrote monographs, the book “From Berlin to Dayton”, he also has an accounting office, he is a court expert, his papers when he submits them and applies for anything are at first hand – neat, that is, he knows how to prepare them to look like that, but in reality, none of that exists because there are no members, neither a football club nor a cultural and artistic society”, stresses Radun.
“It is truly unreal how many associations this man has and they are all at one address – Sarajevska 1 in B. Grahovo. When I was the mayor of the municipality, I found the decision of the Federal Ministry that in 2015 allocated 70,000 KM to FK Grahovo for the arrangement of part of the tribune and the building of the dressing rooms of FK Grahovo, and none of that was invested in those rooms. The only concrete investment was 15,000 KM when I was the mayor, and then PVC joinery was installed on the club's premises. Everything else is not a single esker spent for the money that Salić received for his associations. As soon as I stopped being the mayor, Salić again started to “cooperate” with the mayor of the municipality B. Grahovo”, points out Đuran.
The parliamentary majority led by the SNSD, as Đuran claims, this year voted financial resources for the renovation of the premises of FK Grahovo and the renovation of the Miloš Tica elementary school for the needs of KUD Grahovo with 10,000 KM each, but the explanation for them, as well as the decisions themselves, were never delivered, despite the request of the opposition councilors, and this is probably the only such case in the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“It is unbelievable that Đuran signs a document supporting a fictitious cultural and artistic association and not support the SKUD “Gavrilo Princip”, which has 70 members,” Đuran points out.
Mile Princip from SKUD “Gavrilo Princip”, a descendant of Gavrilo Princip, and who for years maintained the renovated birth house of his ancestor and certainly the most famous Grahov resident in history, says that because of machinations in the municipality of B. Grahovo, he left that place and moved to Belgrade. He is angry, he says, with the current mayor Đuran, who even through papers gave support to KUD Grahovo, which, as he points out, is non-existent and without a single member, while SKUD “Gavrilo Princip” has not received any support for all these years.
“The mayor of Grahovo, Uroš Đuran, gave a recommendation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia for that KUD Grahovo, for which about 200,000 dinars were received. That Salić does the same with that football tournament that is held in the village of Preodac, which has been held every year for the past five years, but in fact, it never takes place, and he gets money,” Princip points out.
The associations led by Dragan Salić are the Association of Private Forest Owners Naša Šuma (Our Forest) and the Center for the Development and Economy of Natural Resources Bosansko Grahovo, which are also registered at the same address – Sarajevska 1 in B. Grahovo.
Both associations applied for the asphalting of the regional road Grahovo-Glamoč, more precisely for the part of the road through Veliko Tičevo.
For all these projects, the Municipality issues appropriate recommendations to Salić's associations, most often for the Sustainable Project Assistance Program, which is implemented by the Federal Ministry of Displaced Persons and Refugees. It is interesting that the municipality itself applies to the same program, but most often does not pass these competitions, while Salić's associations regularly pass competitions and receive financial resources.
“Salic's intentions have been known for a long time, because only he and a couple of individuals who are the cover for this craziness can see the funds that go to the account of his phantom associations. The mayor participates in the current projects because he writes a municipality's recommendation for each Salić association. What is very important for this Public Call is that the projects of some associations have passed, and the municipality of Grahovo applied, believe it or not, with as many as 44 projects. The expertise and knowledge of Chief Đuran has come to the fore, or is this just an act of smearing the eyes of the public and sharing the spoils with Salić so that his projects will go through,” reads the announcement of the SNS party published on the party's official FB profile.
“Every new day, one scandalous recommendation surfaces, for associations that Dragan Salić has been behind for years. The revival of these associations, where Dragan Salić has been extracting money from various ministries, international organizations, and institutions throughout BiH, was made possible by Mayor Uroš Đuran,” Duško Radun points out in an interview with Gerila.
The current mayor of the municipality of Bosansko Grahovo, Uroš Đuran, denies the claims of Radun and Princip, and claims that everything is done according to the law in the municipality of B. Grahovo.
“The municipality does not finance any of the projects of non-governmental organizations, such as KUD Grahovo and FK Grahovo. They did ask for a letter of support last spring for some of their projects and we supported it, they passed with two projects for support from the Government of Serbia, a program for the diaspora, and now they have passed a project before the Federal Ministry where they received 10,000 KM each for KUD, that is, football club. The KUD received money for the renovation of the elementary school in Preoc, and the football club received money for the repair of toilet facilities in the stadium,” said the mayor of the municipality, Uroš Đuran, for Gerila.
Đuran confirmed that he had signed recommendations for KUD Grahovo, as well as FK Grahovo.
“Whether they will honour what they wrote on the public invitation is up to them, not up to the municipality. What Radun (former mayor) is talking about is his problem,” Đuran points out.
Đuran points out that there was a problem with the earlier adaptation, that is, the installation of carpentry on the premises of FK Grahovo, when Radun was the mayor, because part of the invoice was not paid and the contract with the contractor was never signed.
When asked if he knew if KUD Grahovo had any active members, since he personally, as the mayor of the municipality, issued several recommendations for public tenders where KUD Grahovo received financial resources, Đuran said to contact the president of KUD for that information, Dragan Salić.
Đuran did not have an answer to our question as to why a recommendation was issued for KUD, which enables it to receive financial resources from the Government of Serbia, but also from the Federal Ministries, if it is not known whether KUD Grahovo has any membership at all.
“You have to ask Dragan Salić if that KUD has members or not. I don't know,” says Đuran.
Đuran also had no answer when asked by Gerila journalist if he had any knowledge of whether FK Grahovo had any members. When we asked when was the last time FK Grahovo played even an exhibition match, Đuran said that it was a few years ago.
Although we talked to the current mayor Đurano on the phone, we also asked for an official answer from the Municipality as to how and in what way it supports KUD Grahovo, that is, FC Grahovo.
However, our questions were not answered, that is, we were told that we did not submit a request for access to information in accordance with the applicable laws.
Also, we were denied answers to the questions by the Government of Herceg-Bosnia County, that is, Canton 10. We did not receive answers to the questions by the time this text was published.
We also contacted Dragan Salić, the president and founder of numerous non-governmental organizations in Bosanski Grahovo, with the question of whether the mentioned associations exist, in the sense of whether they have a real existence or membership.
“How in the world do these associations not exist? I have seven registers about it. And there are veterans in both associations. One cannot take young boys to play matches in Livno, the security situation is simply not safe. KUD veterans are marking a historic moment in Gavrilo Princip's birthplace at the highest level,” says Salić for Gerila.
Salić says that FC Grahovo plays exhibition matches, as well as that the last match was played a few months ago in Banja Luka.
In response to Radun's claims, he says that the former mayor of Grahov does not really understand that the ultimate goal of these projects is to help returnees to this municipality.
When asked if there are employees in these associations, Salić says that there are currently no employees, because everything is done under the conditions of ad hoc employment and needs.
Salić is better known to the general public as a court expert and the owner and director of the Center for Expertise and Assessment “Zenit” d.o.o. Banja Luka.
In September of last year, journalist and blogger Slobodan Vasković published an article in which he claims that Salić is the creator of a fake expert report prepared for the purposes of the BiH Indirect Taxation Administration, that is, for the assessment of land owned by Mile Radišić, whose purchase the ITA was interested in.
Interestingly, in the elections for members of the council of local communities in Banja Luka held in February of this year, Salić was elected as a representative of the SNSD in the MZ Nova Varoš.
The current mayor of the municipality of B.Grahovo, Uroš Đuran, is also, like Salić, a member of the SNSD and one of the leading people of this party in FBiH.
