US sanctions Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik over corruption
Also: Treasury Sanctions Milorad Dodik and Associated Media Platform for Destabilizing and Corrupt Activity (U.S. Treasury)
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Source: Deutsche Welle
Date 05.01.2022
US sanctions Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik over corruption
The actions of Serb nationalist Milorad Dodik "threaten the stability" of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the entire region, the US Treasury has said.
The US Treasury announced it was sanctioning Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik on Wednesday as Bosnia-Herzegovina faces its gravest political crisis since the 1990s. Dodik is the long-time ruler of Republika Srpska, a Serb entity in Bosnia, which was created under the Dayton Peace accords in 1995.
The US Treasury said Dodik improperly used his position to amass riches through a patronage system of bribery and graft.
"Milorad Dodik's destabilizing corrupt activities and attempts to dismantle the Dayton Peace Accords, motivated by his own self-interest, threaten the stability of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the entire region," Brian Nelson, the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the US Treasury, said in a statement.
The practical effect of the sanctions will be to report, freeze and block any assets Dodik may have in the United States. US citizens and companies will be barred from dealing with them.
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Read more: https://www.dw.com/en/us-sanctions-bosnian-serb-leader-milorad-dodik-over-corruption/a-60342818
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Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury
Treasury Sanctions Milorad Dodik and Associated Media Platform for Destabilizing and Corrupt Activity
Dodik’s Destabilizing and Corrupt Activities Undermine 26 years of Progress Since the Dayton Peace Accords
January 5, 2022
WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Milorad Dodik (Dodik), who is a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), as well as one entity under his control, Alternativna Televizija d.o.o. Banja Luka, in response to Dodik’s corrupt activities and continued threats to the stability and territorial integrity of BiH.
Today’s action, the first designations under E.O. 14033, builds on the Biden Administration’s commitment to promote accountability for those who, among other things, undermine the stability of the Western Balkans region through corruption and threats to long-standing peace agreements. Dodik has undermined BiH institutions by calling for the seizure of state competencies and setting in motion the creation of parallel institutions in BiH’s Republika Srpska (RS) entity. Furthermore, Dodik has used his official BiH position to accumulate personal wealth through graft, bribery, and other forms of corruption. His divisive ethno-nationalistic rhetoric reflects his efforts to advance these political goals and distract attention from his corrupt activities. Cumulatively, these actions threaten the stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of BiH and undermine the Dayton Peace Accords, thereby risking wider regional instability.
“Milorad Dodik’s destabilizing corrupt activities and attempts to dismantle the Dayton Peace Accords, motivated by his own self-interest, threaten the stability of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the entire region,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “The United States will not hesitate to act against those who pursue corruption, destabilization, and division at the expense of their own people, as well as against those who enable and facilitate this behavior.”
The Dayton Peace Accords (DPA), signed by the Presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia in 1995, brought an end to ethnic conflict in BiH and established the present-day constitution of BiH. Treasury previously designated Dodik on January 17, 2017, pursuant to E.O. 13304, for having actively obstructed or posed a significant risk of actively obstructing the DPA. Today’s actions build on this legacy by targeting his ongoing destabilizing activity with respect to the DPA, as well as his abuse of his official position to engage in widespread corruption, which undermines state institutions in BiH.
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Read more: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0549
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