Fuad Kasumović

Fuad Kasumović (Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic: Фуад Касумовић; born 20 March 1958) is a Bosnian politician, economist and businessman. He has been holding the office of Zenica City mayor since 2016, in his second term after reelection in 2020.

For an artist from Tuzla, see bs:Fuad Kasumović.

Fuad Kasumović
Kasumović handshaking after
Eid solemnity 2019 in Zenica
Zenica City Mayor
Assumed office
2 October 2016
Preceded byHusejin Smajlović
Personal details
Born (1958-03-20) 20 March 1958
Gornji Vakuf, PR Bosnia and Herzegovina, FPR Yugoslavia
CitizenshipBosnian
NationalityBosniak
Political partyParty of Democratic Action (1990–2016)
Independent Bloc (2017–2019)
independent (2016; 2019–present)
Spouse(s)Mersija Kasumović
Children1
MotherEsma
FatherAvdija
ResidenceZenica
Alma materEconomics Faculty Sarajevo ('87)
OccupationPolitician, businessman
ProfessionEconomist
Salary3,087 KM
Websitefuadkasumovic.ba (archive)

Biography

He was born 1958 in Gornji Vakuf.[1][2] After graduating from the Economics Faculty Sarajevo[2] (1987),[1] he was employed at the Coal Mine "Gračanica"[2] in his hometown, and soon became the CFO of this company. He worked at the mine until the Bosnian War began in 1992.[1] During the war he was a member of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina (he is awarded highest recognition, Golden Lily),[2] and upon his graduation he obtained a job in the Ministry of Dedicated Production in the Government of the Republic of BiH.[1][2] From 1990 to 2017, he was a member (1990–2016) and functionary of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA). Subsequently, he participated in the founding of the Independent Bloc[1] in September 2017[3] – whose president is Senad Šepić (who has a particular criticism of Bakir Izetbegović's politics)[4] – and used to be its member until April 2019.[3][5][6][7][8]

He began his political career in 1996 as Minister of Finance in the Central Bosnia Canton (SBK).[1][2] Prior to the end of his term in the office, in July 1998, he was appointed Deputy Director of the Customs Administration of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH).[2] Following his removal from office in 2001, he remained in the Customs Administration for two more years as a financial advisor.[1] Following the establishment (by OHR, Kasumović and others)[2] of the Indirect Taxation Authority (Serbo-Croatian: Uprava za indirektno oporezivanje, UIO) in 2004, Kasumović was appointed Advisor to the Director for International Cooperation.[2] He remained in this post throughout the judicial process until his termination in 2007. In the same year he was appointed Deputy Minister of Finance of BiH.[1]

Kasumović (August 2019)

In 2010 he was a president of NK Čelik Zenica.[1] Kasumović ran[9] in the 2010 general election but did not win enough votes to enter the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly.[1] However, that year he received the trust for the second term of the Deputy Minister of Finance and Treasury.[1] He was removed from office in October 2012 due to the SDA's departure from the ruling state-level coalition.[1] In 2015–16 he was a member of the Supervisory Board of the Development Bank of the FBiH.[1] In the 2016 local elections, he was elected Zenica City Mayor as an independent candidate;[1][10] his reelection by three-to-one margin win followed in the 2020 local elections, held on 15 November.[11][note 1]

Accusations

The Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton charged Kasumović with malpractice because he, as a director of the FBiH Customs Administration, signed a transfer order for 69,000 KM to the Tuzla customs office for material costs and lease of premises. However, the money was used to buy the flat of an officer of the Administration. After a five-year trial, Kasumović was acquitted.[1] In 2008, the Central Election Commission submitted a report against Kasumović to the BiH Prosecutor's Office on suspicion that he did not report all assets in the 2007 property file. Kasumović told CIN reporters that no one had contacted him about the issue.[1] Kasumović also said that he had not been contacted in connection with the allegations made against him by the FBiH Financial Police. In 2003, this police institution submitted a report to the SBK Prosecutor's Office, in which Kasumović was suspected of having paid himself and other officials of the FBiH Customs Administration financial compensation for a non-existent separate life.[1]

Private life

He and his wife Mersija (also politician)[17] have one child.[1] The family owns three business offices, including a gas station in Zenica of which price Kasumović holds over a half a million KM value.[1]

On 26 October 2020, it was confirmed that he tested positive for COVID-19, amid its pandemic in Bosnia and Herzegovina.[18]

See also

Notes
  1. Kasumović participated in the 2020 elections as an independent politician for the City Mayor seat and consequently head of City Council seat; aside from that, he did not[12] de facto-led any coalition for the City Council seats and was exclusively independent candidate (contrast with 2016 elections: in 2016 he contested and won as independent but in 2017 had become a member of political party, Independent Bloc, and had stayed its member until 2019 – when he became again and has stayed till present independent politician). The coalition he had de facto-supported at 2020 elections is named Zenica Initiative – Kasumović Fuad (ZI-KF),[13] has 35 independent members[14] and is not de jure-related with Fuad Kasumović; its campaign was marked by incident of holding several pre-election rallies with gathered masses despite COVID-19 pandemic demanding social distancing[15][16] – with Kasumović denying that he organized any of those rallies and claiming he only appeared as the guest invited by ZI-KF, declining later political subjects.[12]

References
  1. CIN biography (in Bosnian)
  2. FK's website, About (in Bosnian)
  3. "U Sarajevu osnovan Nezavisni blok, za predsjednika izabran Senad Šepić". avaz.ba (in Bosnian). Dnevni avaz. 10 September 2017.
  4. "Bosnia's Bosniak party said to distribute power between two factions". BBC Monitoring [European]. 28 January 2012. 08:02.
  5. "I Kasumović napustio Nezavisni blok, Šepić ponovo izabran za predsjednika". radiosarajevo.ba (in Bosnian). Radio Sarajevo. 14 April 2019.
  6. "Fuad Kasumović potvrdio za Klix.ba: Napuštam Nezavisni blok". klix.ba (in Bosnian). Klix. 14 April 2019.
  7. "Kongres Nezavisnog bloka u Sarajevu: Šepić ostaje predsjednik, Kasumović napušta stranku". oslobodjenje.ba (in Bosnian). Oslobođenje. 14 April 2019.
  8. "Fuad Kasumović napušta Nezavisni blok". zenicainfo.ba (in Bosnian). 14 April 2019.
  9. 'Izvještaj, CIK, 2010' (in Bosnian), izbori.ba, CIK [Centralna izborna komisija (Central Election Commission)]
  10. "Fuad Kasumović slavi u Zenici: Bio sam siguran u svoju pobjedu". klix.ba (in Bosnian). 2 October 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  11. 2020 elections for Mayor final results, in English (archive). izbori.ba. 5 December 2020. Accessed 7 December 2020.
  12. "Kasumović: Nisam organizator predizbornog skupa u Zenici" (in Bosnian). N1. 12 November 2020.
  13. 2020 elections for Council final results, in English (archive). izbori.ba. 5 December 2020. Accessed 7 December 2020.
  14. ""Zenička inicijativa Kasumović Fuad" garant snažnije izgradnje evropske Zenice". 072info.com (in Bosnian). 16 September 2020.
  15. "Predizborni skup Fuada Kasumovića uz koncert Hakale i više stotina prisutnih". klix.ba (in Bosnian). 10 November 2020.
  16. "Predizborni skup Fuada Kasumovića i večeras uz koncert narodne muzike i stotine prisutnih". klix.ba (in Bosnian). 10 November 2020.
  17. Mersija Kasumović (in Bosnian), zdk.ba
  18. E. M. (26 October 2020). "Fuad Kasumović pozitivan na koronavirus". klix.ba (in Bosnian). Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.

Further reading
Political offices
Preceded by
Husejin Smajlović		 Zenica City Mayor
2016–present		 Incumbent
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