# Vulin's flat and the "aunt from Canada"
Category: Money and deals
Period: from Jul 2012
Outcome: Complaint dismissed or proceedings halted (as of Aug 2017)
Aleksandar Vulin, then director of the Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija, bought a flat in Zvezdara with his wife in 2012 and told the Anti-Corruption Agency that his wife's aunt in Canada had lent him €205,000. The Agency found there was no valid evidence for this and reported him in 2015, but the police spoke neither to Vulin nor to the lender, and the First Basic Public Prosecutor's Office dismissed the complaint because the flat had been declared to the Agency. The Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering classified its findings as strictly confidential.
## The Zvezdara flat and the loan
Aleksandar Vulin, then director of the Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija, bought a 107-square-metre flat in Zvezdara with his wife in 2012. He first told the Anti-Corruption Agency that he had got the money by selling a flat in Novi Sad, and then that his wife's aunt in Canada had lent him €205,000.
The Agency found there was no valid evidence for this: the money had not gone through any bank account and had not been declared at customs, and the receipt bore no signature from the lender.
## Complaint dismissed
In December 2015, the Agency reported Vulin to the Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime. A year and a half later, the police had spoken to only three of those involved, but not to Vulin or the woman who lent him the money.
In 2017, the Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime concluded that there were no elements of a criminal offence within its jurisdiction, and the First Basic Public Prosecutor's Office dismissed the complaint because the flat had been declared to the Agency.
## The report published and the editor insulted
The public learned of the case only when KRIK, after the Information Commissioner intervened, published the Agency report in September 2017. Vulin then said he had brought the money into the country "nine thousand at a time" in euros, and his Movement of Socialists insulted KRIK editor Stevan Dojčinović in a series of statements; Dojčinović sued the party.
## Secret findings on the source of the money
The Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering first classified its findings as strictly confidential, and after they were declassified in 2018 the names of the parties to the €204,800 transaction remained redacted.
## US sanctions
In July 2023 the US Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on Vulin, then director of the BIA, over corruption, alleged involvement in drug trafficking and ties to arms dealer Slobodan Tešić; the justification presents no evidence. Vulin resigned as BIA director in November 2023.
## Participants
- [Aleksandar Vulin](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/aleksandar-vulin): He justified a €229,620 flat with a loan from an aunt in Canada without evidence, the Agency found, and according to the Agency he gave a camera contract to a friend's firm without a tender (responsible)
- [Socialist Movement](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/pokret-socijalista): After KRIK's 2017 story, he insulted editor Stevan Dojčinović in a series of statements, even calling him a drug addict (responsible)
- [Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (until 2020 the Anti-Corruption Agency)](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/agencija-za-sprecavanje-korupcije): It found that Vulin had no valid evidence of the loan and in December 2015 reported him to prosecutors on suspicion of bribery (oversight and the public)
- [Public Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/jtok): In 2017 it closed the case, accepting the explanation about the loan even though the receipt was unsigned and the transaction had not been recorded (responsible)
- [Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/mup-srbije): The Criminal Police Directorate sent its report only after a year and a half and three reminders, without speaking to either Vulin or the lender (responsible)
- [First Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/prvo-ojt-beograd): In August 2017 it dismissed the criminal complaint against Vulin, checking only whether the flat had been declared, not how it had been acquired (responsible)
- [Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering (Ministry of Finance)](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/uprava-za-sprecavanje-pranja-novca): It classified its findings on the origin of the money for Vulin's flat as “strictly confidential” and lifted the classification only in 2018, on the Commissioner's order (responsible)
- [Rodoljub Šabić](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/rodoljub-sabic): Acting on an appeal from KRIK, he intervened, and the Agency's report on Vulin's assets became public (oversight and the public)
- [KRIK](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/krik): After an appeal to the Commissioner, he published the Agency's report on Vulin's assets and the prosecutors' note on the interviews (oversight and the public)
- [Insajder](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/insajder): He revealed that the Administration's findings on the money for the flat were strictly confidential, and at his request the classification was lifted (oversight and the public)
- [Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), US Department of the Treasury](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/ofac): On 11 July 2023 it imposed sanctions on Vulin over corruption in the Western Balkans and support for Russia (oversight and the public)
## Victims and others harmed
- [Stevan Dojčinović](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/stevan-dojcinovic)
## Sources
- [N1: KRIK: Proceedings against Vulin dropped](): 17 Aug 2017
- [Kurir: VULIN TO KRIK: I brought the money into the country €9,000 at a time!](): 21 Sep 2017
- [N1: KRIK reveals what the Prosecutor's Office found about Vulin's flat](): 19 Oct 2017
- [Kurir: TOP SECRET: Vulin's aunt from Canada a STATE SECRET?!](): 14 Oct 2017
- [Radio Slobodna Evropa: KRIK editor sues Vulin's Movement of Socialists](): 29 Sep 2017
- [N1: Vulin flat case left in a drawer for two years, then closed](): 18 Sep 2017
- [Danas: Aleksandar Vulin: The aunt's nephew-in-law](): 20 Sep 2017
- [Danas: Insajder: Administration's report on Vulin "strictly confidential"](): 14 Oct 2017
- [Radio Slobodna Evropa: What is known about the US sanctions on Vulin?](): 12 Jul 2023
- [N1: Vulin on KRIK's reporting and the Agency's report](): 19 Sep 2017
- [Radio Slobodna Evropa: Part of the report on the money for Vulin's flat declassified](): 13 Jan 2018
- [021.rs: Vulin: They will have to find another reason to attack me](): 14 Jan 2018
- [N1: KRIK: Vulin testified, insulted the portal's editor in court](): 21 Jun 2022
- [Nova.rs: Vulin shamefully insulted KRIK editor: claimed he was a masochist and used drugs](): 21 Jun 2022
- [Ministarstvo finansija SAD: Ministarstvo finansija sankcionisalo zvaničnika povezanog sa korupcijom u Srbiji](): 11 Jul 2023
- [N1: Vulin under US sanctions, linked to drug and arms trafficking](): 11 Jul 2023
- [N1: PS: Sanctions are an attack on Serbia, Vulin sent their favourite narco-killers to prison](): 11 Jul 2023
- [N1: Vulin resigns as BIA director](): 3 Nov 2023
- [Vreme: Aleksandar Vulin resigned as head of the BIA](): 3 Nov 2023
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Source: Odgovornost, https://odgovornost.rs/en/afere/vulin-tetka-iz-kanade
As of: 9 Nov 2026
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)