Sanctions Placed on Bosnian Serb Leader Dodik’s Family

Citing corruption and disruption to Bosnian governance, the US Treasury Department has expanded sanctions against the family and business networks of Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik (Wikimedia Commons).

The Treasury Department placed sanctions on the family and business network of President Milorad Dodik of the autonomous Serbian portion of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska, on October 20. Dodik, a pro-Russian, Bosnian Serb nationalist, serves as the eighth president of the autonomous region. Both the United States and the United Kingdom have previously levied sanctions against Dodik himself. However, this week marked the first imposition of sanctions against Dodik’s adult children, Igor and Gorica, who were sanctioned along with four of their companies. 

The United States claims that Dodik is in violation of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, which terminated the 1992-1995 Bosnian War. According to the U.S. State Department, the “designations aim to disrupt elements of the financial network that personally enriches and enables Dodik at the expense of the territorial integrity and functional governance of Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with the general economic wellbeing of the Republika Srpska.” 

The State Department also believes that Dodik’s network serves to perpetuate “deeply entrenched corruption in Bosnia and Herzegovina." Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury has suggested that Dodik’s corruption has discouraged foreign investment in Bosnia and Herzegovina as investors fear their money will ultimately enter the pockets of Dodik and his family.

The four companies impacted, Global Liberty, Agro Voice, Agape, and Gradiska, are all owned by Igor, Gorica, or both. The four companies are a mixture of commercial entities whose operations stretch from wholesale operations to restaurant operations. The U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) argues that each of these companies allowed Dodik to siphon money from government funds, which he used to enrich both himself and his family. Moreover, the companies have supposedly “received preferential treatment as a result of being owned by Dodik’s family.”

As a result of the sanctions, any funds associated with Igor or Gorica Dodik, or any of the four sanctioned companies under U.S. control, will be blocked and reported to OFAC, including assets over which the indicated parties control at least 50% of the stake. Moreover, anyone who chooses to “engage in certain transactions or activities with the sanctioned individuals” may also be sanctioned or open themselves up to an enforcement action.