THE KLADUSA CONUNDRUM, AN FPU VISIT TO BOSNIA'S ENIGMATIC

UNCLAS SARAJEVO 001715


DEPT FOR CA/EX, CA/FPP, CA/VO, AND EUR/SCE (MIKE FOOKS); DEPT ALSO
PASS TO KCC; POSTS FOR FRAUD PREVENTION MANAGERS; VIENNA FOR DHS
MARLA BELVEDERE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KFRD CVIS CMGT CPAS ASEC BK
SUBJECT: THE KLADUSA CONUNDRUM, AN FPU VISIT TO BOSNIA'S ENIGMATIC
NORTHWEST PROVINCE


1. [Summary] The Sarajevo Fraud Prevention Unit (FPU) traveled to
Bosnia and Herzegovina's (BiH) most isolated province to discover
why we see such a disproportionate number of visa applicants from
the northwestern towns of Bihac and Velika Kladusa. The FPU also
wanted to address long held suspicions of immigrant intent and false
documents from Velika Kladusa. The October 22 to 24 excursion was
the first in a number of field visits the FPU will be reporting on
in the coming months. [End summary]


2. The Sarajevo FPU has commenced a series of visits to regions
within Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to improve our knowledgebase
about areas where we suspect higher instances of fraud, or otherwise
have little background information. From October 22 to 24, the FPU
made the first such visit to the krajina "frontier" region of Bihac
and Velika Kladusa. Both the NIV and IV units see a
disproportionate number of visa applicants from this region. After
centuries of isolation, difficult political dealins with the
capital, and economic crisis, the FPU as amazed to arrive in a
region full of well mancured farms and brightly painted and newly
renovted homes. Velika Kladusa presented a stark contrast between
the bleak economic outlook of the region and the picturesque life of
the locals, a result of substantial remittances. An estimated
15,000 (from a population of 52,000) live and work abroad in Germany
and the United States. On the other hand, the last twenty years was
brutal to the local economy, witnessing the sharp decline of the
area's two major employers-Agrokomerc and Saniteks. The country
side is littered with empty and decaying commercial farming
facilities of the once proud agro business, and Saniteks' 400 some
employees are making far below their peers in the Federation of
Bosnia and Herzegovina.


3. FPU has long felt it necessary to carefully check the validity
of documents originating from Velika Kladusa. All facets of the
local government are controlled by the political party DNZ
(Democratic National Committee),which is unique to that area. As a
result, the FPU is not confident that the usual checks and oversight
for document issuance are adhered to. In meetings with the
municipality administration, FPU learned more about how the local
government is improving the quality of their document-issuance
services through the USAID-sponsored GAP project, but FPU
reservations regarding potential vulnerabilities from that
municipality remain.


4. CIPS (Citizen Information Protection System) employees in Velika
Kladusa, which work closely with the police, confirmed to FPU that
they do not have a policy in place for verifying the credibility of
public documents (Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates) issued by
the municipality registrars used for further issuance of BiH ID's
and passports. Furthermore, they admitted that oversight and
controls from regional HQ's in Banja Luka and Sarajevo practically
do not exist. FPU also performed random checks of previously
submitted documents at several smaller municipal registrars
throughout the province which underlined our seriousness in ensuring
the viability of public documents to the local authorities.


5. In meetings with the municipal court, FPU further established
that our concerns regarding the usefulness of BiH Court Clearance
Documents used for U.S. Immigrant Visas are credible. FPU found
that BiH court certificates only reflect criminal-related cases for
the single municipality in question only. This means that court
certificates are not nation wide, and do not address civil suits.
The Consular Section has initiated discussions with Department of
Justice office in Sarajevo along with court and police contacts in
search of a viable alternative.


6. The FPU also supported other mission goals by touring Public
Affairs' American Corner in Bihac and met with the Corner director
and the English Language Fellow currently placed in Bihac who
teaches at the Islamic Madrasa in Cazin. FPU took advantage of the
opportunity to promote student travel programs and exchanges with a
representative of Bihac University.


7. The field trip enabled our FPU section to establish
relationships and contacts with relevant institutions and
departments in the Bihac/Velika Kladusa region. Our fraud
investigation capability should therefore be enhanced. Additionally,
the first-hand view of the economic landscape exposed our staff to
conditions in an isolated region far from the capital, and will
assist us in better evaluating non-immigrant visa requests from this
part of Bosnia and Herzegovina.


ENGLISH