Hamdija Abdić aka. Tiger, a representative of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) in the House of Representatives of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) Parliament, begins a lengthy conversation about his career and assets.
“I’m an open book. Everyone knows everything about me”, he says, before diving into vivid recollections of his life, the war, and his work in Krajina, where he has made millions over the past decades.
Despite insisting he has nothing to hide, Abdić failed to disclose all his assets and their full value to the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as required by the BiH Election Law.
“Oh, I have no idea—maybe I just forgot”, he said when asked about the undeclared assets. “I didn’t even fill out [the form] myself.”
His asset declaration also contains incomplete and inaccurate details about the size and value of the properties he did report, with figures that don’t match official land registry records. Yet, this seems to concern him little. In both the 2018 and 2022 elections, Abdić submitted the same asset declaration to the Central Election Commission.
He claims he doesn’t know the full value of his assets but estimates his luxury home at a million marks and a 600-square-metre commercial space in central Bihać at between 2.5 and 3 million BAM. However, his asset declaration lists these properties at half their actual value.
Abdić earns just over BAM 20,000 per month, part of which he says he shares with his ex-wife. He drives a Porsche and a Harley-Davidson and has the most extensive police file of any politician in the Federation Parliament. He has been convicted and fined in multiple criminal and civil cases for disturbing public order, physical assault, property damage, and failing to pay traffic fines.
“There were a few slaps here and there—nothing out of the ordinary. Some idiot comes up to you, you tell him, back off, back off. And when there’s no other way, you have to give him a good slap,” Abdić said.
200.000 BAM from Babo
The famous nickname Tigar has been tied to 63-year-old Hamdija Abdić for three decades. Originally from Cazin but now living in Bihać, he earned the moniker from his fellow soldiers after leading a military operation in 1994 called “Tigar-Sloboda 94” as commander of the 502nd Knight Brigade of the Fifth Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (RBiH). During this covert mission, Abdić defeated the forces of the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia and its leader, Fikret Abdić, enabling the RBiH Army to seize Velika Kladuša and the territory of Western Bosnia.
But before he was known as “Tigar,” young Hamdija Abdić was called “Hondo”—a nod to the fiery cowboy Hondo Lane from a once-popular Western TV series. He sees himself as a rebellious and powerful figure, just as many in Krajina do.
“I never allowed theft, drugs, or carjackings. I had a lot of influence.” “There was no car theft here, no drugs, nothing,” Abdić says, describing his influence in Bihać, where he has spent nearly his entire life—though police reports and investigations suggest otherwise.
A proud local patriot, Abdić has always viewed Bihać as a land of opportunity for business and profit, thanks to its proximity to the Croatian border—a factor he readily capitalised on. Before the war, he drove trucks, distributed goods, produced coffee, paints, and concrete and wooden products, and ran cafés and nightclubs.
“I had a good eye for business. I was the first to see the opportunity with poker machines. You’d buy one for 6,000 marks, and in just three days, you’d make that money back,” Abdić recalled.
But the biggest money-making opportunity, he says, came after the war—buying and flipping real estate for millions of marks. He says he bought the properties “at favourable prices,” paying with certificates and profits from his private business—a venture that began with repairing an old truck he used to transport goods as a 20-year-old.
“Within a year, I made enough to buy a second truck—five times better. I’ve earned a lot of money in my life, but I’ve also given and shared a lot. I used to spend two to three thousand marks a day.”
Abdić acquired his most valuable properties during the privatisation of the joint-stock company ‘Aduna’ Bihać in the early 2000s, including the former Hotel Bosna and a commercial space in the city centre, where he ran the well-known café ‘Bondeno.’
In 2004, he sold the hotel to Raiffeisen Bank for 2.3 million marks. He kept and expanded the commercial space, which now earns him 180,000 BAM a year in rental income from a “DM Store”.
Abdić owns nine properties in Bihać and is planning to build a residential-commercial complex in the city centre, featuring ten flats and several business units. He says the 2.5 million BAM investment will be financed through a bank loan.
In the meantime, he borrowed 150,000 BAM from BBI Bank and 100,000 BAM from UniCredit Bank, which he used to renovate his luxury home with a swimming pool.
“I’ve pulled all the money I had. I built a nice house so I can enjoy my retirement.”
Abdić told CIN that he once owned another flat in Bihać, which he transferred to his son, as well as a flat in Opatija, Croatia, which he has since sold—but he refused to disclose the price.
When asked how he accumulated his properties, he insists he has always worked, earned, bought, and sold.
“I went into the war with money. I didn’t come out of it as a pauper. “Fikret (Abdić, leader of the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia – ed.) gave me 200,000 marks. That was my first cash injection. I could have taken more, but I preferred to take weapons instead,” said Abdić, who left the war with the rank of colonel and the Silver Shield medal.
In an interview with CIN, Abdić initially claimed he had “maybe forgotten” to declare all his properties in his asset disclosure form. Later, he insisted he had declared everything. When asked about certain land plots, he first denied owning them, only to later admit that he did.
“I’m not hiding anything (…) I just won’t tell you how much cash I have—I do not dare,” he told a CIN journalist. His asset disclosure form also fails to mention any savings.
Political career
Hamdija Abdić has been a member of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) since 1991. However, he has never held any official roles within the party’s structures, and according to him, he never had any interest in doing so.
He said that, despite everything, that “was the path to securing a position”, confidently adding that any party would love to have him because of his influence and power.
His political career began in 2016 when he was elected as an SDA councillor in the Bihać City Council. In 2018, he secured a seat in the House of Representatives of the Federation of BiH, where he earns a monthly salary of approximately 5,600 BAM.
He also receives an additional 889 BAM in allowances for living away from his family, travel expenses, and accommodation in Sarajevo—despite officially residing in Bihać.
“I mostly stay in hotels,” Abdić claims, though he adds that he rents an apartment in Sarajevo, with the rent covered by the FBIH budget.
Upon taking office as an MP, Abdić suspended his 950 BAM pension. In the 2023 early elections, he ran as the SDA candidate for mayor of Bihać but failed to secure enough votes to win. Abdić says he will pursue another term in the Federation Parliament, provided he remains in good health.
In addition to his parliamentary income, he earns 15,000 BAM per month from renting out commercial property, which he claims he shares with his ex-wife after dividing ownership of certain assets following their divorce.
He owns a Porsche Cayenne and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, which he estimates to be worth a combined total of approximately 80,000 BAM.
Abdić has the most extensive criminal record among politicians in the Federation Parliament, as previously reported by CIN. He has been convicted and fined in multiple criminal and civil cases. In 2018, he was indicted for allegedly playing a role in the murder of Croatian Defence Council General Vlado Šantić, but in 2023, the Supreme Court of FBiH acquitted him of all charges.
The most severe sanction was imposed on him in 2007 for robbery in Bihać after the war. At the time, Abdić and Emin Pivić held businessman Nedžad Bajrić hostage in a café. According to the court ruling, they beat him with their hands, feet, a gun, and other objects, threatening to kill him if he did not hand over 200,000 German marks.
Realizing that he would not get the money, Pivić shot Bajrić’s leg. They snatched his car, mobile phone, bracelet, watch, as well as the money he had on him. The Bihać Cantonal Court sentenced Pivić to three years and Abdić to two years in prison.
Abdić has also been convicted of violent behaviour on three other occasions. He received a total of 20 months of suspended prison sentences for bar fights in Bosanski Petrovac in 1998, in Bihać in 2004, and for a brawl at the Jedinstvo Football Club stadium in Bihać in 2005.
In 2020, he was fined 500 BAM for property damage related to a 2016 incident. His wife had called him, saying she had argued with another woman. In response, he went to the shop owned by the woman’s partner and repeatedly kicked the door of his car.
“There were a few slaps here and there—nothing out of the ordinary. “I’m an active man,” Abdić said.
When a journalist asked what he meant by that, he elaborated: “Active—full of life, you know. Clubs, cafés. People argue even in mosques, right? Some idiot comes up to you, you tell him, back off, back off. And when there’s no other way, you have to give him a good slap,” the MP said.
