Dragan Čović

Dragan Čović
Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
In office 17 July 2015 – 17 March 2016
Prime Minister	Denis Zvizdić
Preceded by	Mladen Ivanić
Succeeded by	Bakir Izetbegović
In office 27 June 2003 – 28 February 2004
Prime Minister	Adnan Terzić
Preceded by	Borislav Paravac
Succeeded by	Sulejman Tihić
In office 2 April 2003 – 10 April 2003
Prime Minister	Adnan Terzić
Preceded by	Mirko Šarović
Succeeded by	Borislav Paravac
Croat Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 November 2014
Preceded by	Željko Komšić
In office 5 October 2002 – 9 May 2005
Preceded by	Jozo Križanović
Succeeded by	Ivo Miro Jović
Chairperson of the House of Peoples
In office 9 February 2012 – 17 November 2014
Deputy	Ognjen Tadić
Preceded by	Ognjen Tadić
Succeeded by	Bariša Čolak
Minister of Finance of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
In office 12 December 1998 – 11 January 2001
Prime Minister	Edhem Bičakčić
Preceded by	Ognjen Tadić
Succeeded by	Nikola Grabovac
President of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Incumbent
Assumed office 4 June 2005
Preceded by	Bariša Čolak
Personal details
Born	(1956-08-20) 20 August 1956 Mostar, Yugoslavia (now Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Political party	Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Spouse(s)	Bernardica Čović
Children	Sanja Daniela
Alma mater	University of Mostar University of Sarajevo
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Dragan Čović (pronounced [drǎgan t͡ʃǒːʋit͡ɕ]; born 20 August 1956) is a Bosnian Croat politician and leader of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZ BiH) party.

Education and managerial career

Dragan Čović was born in Mostar. He attended elementary school and technical high school of mechanical engineering in Mostar and graduated in 1975. After high school he entered the Faculty of Engineering at Džemal Bijedić University in Mostar and graduated in 1979 gaining a title of mechanical engineer. In 1980 he started working as an employee in SOKO company in Mostar, where he worked in technology and control sections.

From 1986-92 he did various managerial jobs, such as director of business unit, director of production and vice president for industrialization. Čović gained a master's degree in 1989 at the Faculty of Engineering in Mostar, and from 1989-91 he attended studies of management at the Faculty of Economy at the University of Sarajevo. From 1992-98 he was the general director of SOKO. He obtained a PhD from the University of Mostar in 1996.

From 1994-96 he taught Economics and Organization of Production as a senior assistant at the Faculty of Engineering in Mostar, after which he was named assistant professor and taught Development of Production Systems. Four years later, he became an associate professor and in 2004 he was a full professor of the University of Mostar. He worked at the Faculty of Economy in Mostar, and also in regular and postgraduate studies. In 2007, he became a professor at the University of Mostar's Faculty of Philosophy.

Political career

In 1994, Čović joined the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZ). Two years later, he became a member of the cantonal committee of HDZ, and in 1997 he became the president of the city committee of HDZ in Mostar. A year later, he became vice president of HDZ and in 2005 he was elected President. From 1998–2001, Čović was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

At the general election in 2002 he was elected as member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina with 114,606 votes. He was a Presidency member until 29 March 2005, when he was removed from office by the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Paddy Ashdown, for abuse of power and position.

In 2008, Čović joined the Prud process as one of the three main negotiators (Dodik-Tihić-Čović). When the Prud process failed over issues of constitutional reform and territorial restructuring, RS leader Milorad Dodik and his party SNSD became close partners to HDZ BiH. In the numerous failed negotiations to implement the 2009 ECtHR Sejdić-Finci judgment, Čović has often been singled out by analysts as blocking a solution, maintaining that the Croat people must be able to elect their own member in the BiH Presidency.

In May 2011 he became a member of the House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina and in February 2012 he was named Chairman of the House of Peoples. At the October 2014 election Čović was re-elected as Croat member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He held the chair of the rotating presidency between November 2015 and March 2016. During his chairmanship, on 15 February 2016, Bosnia and Herzegovina submitted its EU membership application.

Investigations and indictments

In November 2006 Čović was sentenced to five years in prison for exempting the Ivanković-Lijanović company of paying taxes on meat imports. He appealed and the Appellate Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina rejected the sentence because of the incompetence of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2009, Čović was accused of spending public funds to buy private homes for certain people. In April 2010, he was acquitted.

On 14 May 2010, a third indictment for Čović and six other persons was confirmed by the Court of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton (HNC), this time for abuse of power and position. He and other committee members of the Croatian Post and Telecom (HPT) were accused of transferring a debt of nearly 4,7 million Convertible Marks from the non-existing Ministry of Defence of the Croatian Defence Council to three private companies.

By receiving the debt, those three companies became owners of shares in Eronet, the most profitable telecommunicational section of the HPT. At the time, Čović was Federal Minister of Finance and president of the Steering Committee of the HPT. The Court of the HNC asked that this case be brought in front of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the FBiH Supreme Court decided that the case had to be solved in Mostar. In May 2012, Čović was acquitted.

External links

• CIN - imovina politicara - Dragan Čović

References