Millions of euros in fees for the agent of Luka Modrić - Belgium-based Vladica Lemić - were paid to a company in Bosnia & Herzegovina, owned by his younger brother Zoran Lemić

Corporate tax in Bosnia & Herzegovina is only ten percent, over three times less than the rate in Belgium, where Lemić is resident, raising issues of potential tax fraud





Moscow, 15 July 2018. The 2018 World Cup final between Croatia and France was a glorious occasion for football agent Vladica Lemić. Even though the Balkan side lost in a riveting contest, its star midfielder, Luka Modrić - Lemić’s biggest client – who had shone from the beginning to the end of the tournament, bagged the FIFA Golden Ball award.

It was the beginning of a season of accolades for Modrić. A month later, he would further fill his trophy cabinet, this time with prizes for UEFA’s Men's Player of the Year, and Best FIFA Men's player - breaking a ten-year domination by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. The footballing elite was in agreement: Modrić was the top player in the world.

This new prestige offered fresh opportunities for Lemić. The 52 year-old Serb national, who was born in Zagreb, Croatia, was looking to cash in on his client’s successes by moving Modrić out of Real Madrid, where he has played since 2012, to Italian side Inter Milan. There was a summer of speculation in the sports media, which published endless rumours, tip-offs and leaks surrounding Modrić , his intentions, as well as details of his Real Madrid salary and possible transfer fee.

But the Spanish side was reluctant to play ball. After suffering the ignominy of Cristiano Ronaldo's €112 million move to Juventus last summer, Real Madrid was loath to risk the departure of yet another galáctico. In the end, the Italian transfer did not happen. Modrić stayed with Real Madrid, and the club agreed to a massive salary rise for the player. There was no cut of any transfer fee for Vladica Lemić.

But the intermediary is unlikely to have lost out because Lemić probably claimed millions in agency fees for services to Modrić, despite not being a FIFA-registered intermediary.

According to Football Leaks documents, between 2013 and 2017, Lemić – and a business partner – negotiated a total of €4.4 million in fees, including for Modrić's salary renewal, which he channelled through the company of his younger brother, Zoran Lemić, who is a registered agent.

The payments were processed in Republika Srpska, an autonomous Serbian-majority entity in Bosnia & Herzegovina, which has tax rates three times lower than in Vladica Lemić's country of residence, Belgium. From this base, Lemić has been using his younger brother Zoran Lemić’s company to indirectly invoice European clubs, thus shifting the agent fees and profits to a country with low tax rates.

Another member of the scheme is Montenegrin Predrag Pedja Mijatović, an ex-striker for Partizan Belgrade, Real Madrid and Valencia, who was director of football at Real Madrid between 2006 and 2009. The retired player is now living in Spain, where he is facing prosecution in a €603,000 tax fraud case. Emails reveal that Mijatović was working with Vladica Lemić during player transfer negotiations with clubs.

From many multi-million contracts where they were involved, Vladica Lemić and Predrag Mijatović did not receive one euro from football clubs. To our understanding, they paid no taxes in their countries of residence, Belgium and Spain, on these deals [The two intermediaries would not reply to clarify this situation].

This practice, which is described by a Belgian tax expert as “a typical case of tax fraud”, has been widespread since 2014, according to Football Leaks documents. Meanwhile, the profits from the Bosnian company owned and managed solely by Lemić’s younger brother Zoran, Top Sports Consulting, are huge.

Between 2014 and 2017, the Bosnian firm turned over €32 million, mostly from football transfers, and banked a whopping €23 million in profit after taxes.

In 2016, with only seven employees, Top Sports Consulting was fifth on the list of Republika Srpska's businesses with the highest operating profit, joining local oil, telecom, public firms and construction companies, who employ thousands.

Football Leaks documents were obtained by the German news magazine Der Spiegel, and shared with Nacional (Croatia), which put together this story, The Black Sea and their partners in the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) network.

Available documents, EIC Network has reviewed, show that at least €8.8 million in contracts were signed for football transfers during these four years by Zoran Lemić, while emails prove that it was Vladica Lemić and Mijatović who were personally involved in negotiations and arranging contracts worth at least €4.4 million, which ended up in the Bosnian bank account.