Bosnian Intelligence Agency Investigates Real Estate Purchases by Arab Tourists

Bosnian Intelligence Agency investigates the real estate purchases at attractive locations, as in the countryside of Sarajevo, by Arab tourists who invested huge amount of money.

Bosnia Intellicence Agency (SIPA) launched investigations that have reached the total of 108 companies.

According Bosnian website Nezavisne Novine, SIPA have found a lot of bogus companies, owned by individuals who have never entered Bosnia and Herzegovina, who are not residents, but they authorized Bosnian citizens to buy real estate in Bosnia and Herzegovina for their companies“.

Nezavisne Novine reported that “51 legal entities linked with foreign citizen, with an initial capital of 2,000 marks” had bought real estate.

Bosnian website writes that “Arabs are buying land in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A Kuwait citizen said that he visited some attractive locations in Sarajevo suburb of Hadzici, with already constructed objects, or under construction, specifically for the needs of visitors from his Country”.

"Bosnia Intellicence Agency (SIPA) launched investigations that have reached the total of 108 companies owned by foreigners"

Bosnia and Herzegovina Central Bank released data that show as around 86 million euros were invested in different projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina by the end of 2015. According to that data Kuwait is the 15th biggest investor in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Bosnian Intelligence Agency (SIPA) carried out an operation to determine the legality of that projects as the land purchases in this country, to detect potential tax evasion and money laundering.

Bosnian Intelligence Agency (SIPA) discovered that there are 108 companies registered in Bosnia and Herzegovina owned by foreigners: 71 are owned by Kuwaitis, 13 by Lybians, 12 by nationals of the United Arab Emirates, 10 by Syrians, and two by Qatar nationals.

Germany finalizes an arms deal with Saudi Arabia

On the evening of July 5, the Economics Ministry under the leadership of Sigmar Gabriel informed the Bundestag, lower house of German parliament, that the Federal Security Council which convenes behind closed doors has approved the arms deals with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Brunei, and Mexico.

Saudi Arabia has therefore obtained the final approval for the export of the 48 military patrol boats it had ordered, while Egypt will receive a German submarine equipped with torpedoes.

The deal could include sending Brunei 900,000 rounds for machine guns, and Kuwait, Oman, and the UAE will receive armored tanks as testing models. Mexico, on the other hand, may import five German anti-tank weapons. 

"In recent months, Saudis have used German weapons in their Yemen offensive"

The Federal Security Council had already reached these decisions over a week and a half earlier, but only key ministries and the chancellery were aware of the details of its confidential meetings. 

The approval of these arms exports proves that the German government is willing to continue exporting weapons to conflict and high-tension regions. The main force behind this decision is the financial volume of the exports that would protect German companies on the global market.

The controversial aspect of the deal lies in finalizing the agreement with the autocratic state of Saudi Arabia, and the issue has become even more politically sensitive with the Kingdom’s intervention in the civil war in Yemen and its use of excessive force to protect its own interests there.

It has also been revealed that in recent months, Saudis have used German weapons in their Yemen offensive.

This issue has created a political divide in the German government.

On several occasions, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) Minister Gabriel has publically called to stop further exports and sought to prevent or at least vote against the patrol boat export license in the Federal Security Council.

On the other hand, the rest of the Federal Government views Riyadh as one of the few reliable partners in the region.

Despite this dispute, the majority voted to honor the deal that was negotiated with Riyadh in 2012. Securing and obtaining arms deals is always a long process. 

The Saudis sought to obtain 48 patrol boats from the Luerssen shipyard back in 2012, and the Federal Security Council authorized the deal only in principle in 2013.

The government can always decide to stop the delivery if it chooses to take into consideration any developments in crisis regions. Needless to say, the Saudi offensive in Yemen has not been a deterring factor in the completion of the current deal.