Bosnia Minister in Hot Water For Claiming Rent

A party in Bosnia, Our Party [Nasa Stranka], on December 30 said it had filed a lawsuit before the Sarajevo Cantonal Prosecutor against Salmir Kaplan, the Federation entity's Culture and Sports Minister, for misusing his official position and authority.

It comes after the Sarajevo-based Center for Investigative Reporting, CIN, said Kaplan had continued to claim payments to rent an apartment in Sarajevo when he owned his own apartment in the city.

The minister had received 600 KM [300 euro] a month for accommodation in the city "where he owned his apartment", Our Party said on Tuesday.

CIN reported earlier that Kaplan bought an apartment in Sarajevo five years ago while accepting cash from the budget for accommodation in the same city.

After a number of media reports on ministers receiving payment for accommodation even though they used their own apartments - with Kaplan as the one in focus - he wrote an explanation on his Facebook page.

"I lived for a few years as a sub-tenant and in the meanwhile paid for the building in construction. By moving into that apartment I still did not lose the right to those payments... the rules are like that - but I fully agree that further use of that right is against the high moral values by which I stand," Kaplan said.

"Since this change was only recent, I have already made steps to correct the situation adequately," he continued. "A few months ago, I stopped using the right for reimbursement for the apartment."

The CIN report about ministers using additional payments for accommodation covered about 13 ministers in the Federation entity government over the last four years.

The report recalled that the right to such payments was supposed to belong only to...