BOSNIA: CONSULAR FRAUD PERSPECTIVES ON NIV APPLICANTS' LAND

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SARAJEVO 001404 SIPDIS 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: BOSNIA: CONSULAR FRAUD PERSPECTIVES ON NIV APPLICANTS' LAND OWNERSHIP DOCUMENTS Summary -------------- ¶1. FPU Sarajevo recently launched an investigation of land ownership documents. These documents are frequently presented by NIV applicants in an effort to prove economic or financial ties. In some cases, applicants may not have as strong an interest in the land as they may claim. End summary. ¶2. Like other processes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the land ownership system is undergoing slow reform. The entity ministries of justice and the municipal administrations are involved in these reforms. They are attempting to reconcile various deeds and parcels, the legacy of two legal systems and the recent war. In order to better understand the significance of local land records, which are often presented to officers as proof of economic ties to Bosnia, FPU Sarajevo met with local officials in East Sarajevo, Mostar, Zenica and with the Land Administration Project administrators in Sarajevo. ¶3. Two types of land records are currently in use. One, colloquially called the Tapija and Grunt system, are property rights recorded in the civil registry land books or "zemljisna knjiga." These Grunt records are issued by regional courts. The second is the Katastar, or possession/occupancy right, a record that is issued by the municipality. Our field work indicates that both Grunt and Katastar documents are legally recognized. However, only Grunt documents can be used as collateral for loans from local banks. This is therefore, a superior right. Due to the dual system, every land parcel in Bosnia could potentially have two claims to ownership because Grunt and Katastar records do not match for many parcels. History -------------- ¶4. The first land registry-related document in Bosnia and Herzegovina was the Tapija, implemented during the Ottoman period (15th to 19th century). Tapijas were originally issued to high-ranking members of the Turkish military and bureaucracy as a reward for their service. With time, Tapijas became the standard documents with which real estate ownership in Bosnia was claimed and established. Tapijas were hand-written without any technical drawings or measurements. ¶5. The Austro-Hungarian Empire replaced the Ottomans in 1878, and inherited the Turkish Tapija system. The Austro-Hungarians attempted to modernize this system in the 1890s and it became known as the "Grunt" system. In the first phase, Tapija registries were simply recorded into the new Grunt system. Later, the system was expanded to match the European standards of the time. ¶6. However, the Grunt system leaves a significant segment of the Bosnian population without land records because after 1945, the new Yugoslavian government nationalized and expropriated land while instituting ambitious agrarian reforms. Although Grunt land registry records were still maintained by Yugoslav authorities, as families were allocated parcels of land and estates were divided, true physical ownership became increasingly different from the official documentation. Thus, the Yugoslav authorities decided to modernize the Grunt via technology-based land measurement in the 1970s. They conducted a massive aerial survey of the country, using photographs to record the actual possession of land parcels. The new system was named the "Katastar" (cadastre) system. ¶7. The Katastar system's main differences from the Grunt system are that it serves as proof of possession, not ownership, and it is maintained by the municipal authorities, not the courts. Katastar possession is an inheritable right, however, the Grunt or Civil Registry system still serves as the only absolute legal proof of real estate ownership in Bosnia today. Field Visits -------------- SARAJEVO 00001404 002 OF 002 ¶8. Concern over land documents manifests itself in a variety of ways throughout Bosnia. In East Sarajevo (Republika Srpska),real estate experts explained the new political and administrative difficulty they face following the division of Sarajevo between the Federation and the Republika Srpska (RS) after the 1992-1995 war. The newly-formed regional court in Sokolac, RS, created a new land registry database in accordance with the entity borders. However, for many disputed areas, the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo retains their pre-war jurisdiction and continues to issue land registry documents even as the Sokolac court does the same thing. Some parcels now have multiple ownership documents and two different owners can take out a loan on the same piece of land using the documents from two different courts. Thus, in East Sarajevo, there could be three potential claimants to land-one with Grunt ownership rights, a second with Katastar possession rights and a third with ownership rights issued by the Sokolac courts. ¶9. In Mostar, the acting mayor expressed frustration because his citizens must wait years for the local courts to produce copies of their land registry documents. In Zenica, the mayor's office informed us that they estimate it will take two years and over two million convertible marks (about 1.5 million dollars) to reconcile the Katastar and Grunt systems within their municipal territory. Currently, the municipality does not have adequate funding to tackle the project. International Involvement -------------- ¶10. The international community is aware of land ownership issues in Bosnia. The German government sponsored Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) maintains an office in Sarajevo where they are working with Swedish and Austrian partners on land reform. The Land Administration Project began in 2003 and has thus far provided all 48 Bosnian land registry offices and their branches with IT equipment and specialized software. The software is now in use by the majority of Bosnian courts. In September 2008, representatives from both entities and the Bosnian Geodetic Administration along with representatives of Germany, Sweden and Austria signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Land Administration Project. The memorandum allows for continued collaboration on land administration reform. So far, only two municipalities (Visoko and Konjic) have reconciled the Grunt and Katastar property records. Consular Impact -------------- ¶11. Post currently accepts both Grunt and Katastar documents to support claims to financial and economic ties in non-immigrant visa applications. However, our discovery that multiple ownership/possession documents may be obtained on a given land parcel underscores the importance of further examination concerning those documents. Since local banks only issue loans based on civil registry (Grunt) documents, these documents demonstrate a much stronger claim to the land. Additionally, incomplete land ownership may indicate that even those who claim home ownership, may have only a tenuous claim to remaining on the land. Additionally, there are still disputes concerning ownership related to land nationalized by former governments. Post will continue to closely monitor whether documents concerning land ownership/possession truly demonstrate economic ties to Bosnia. ENGLISH