How Dijana Đuđić Established a Company for MP Kaloh’s Brother
Žana Erznožnik, Anuška Delić
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Marko Kaloh, brother of independent MP Dejan Kaloh, is a dental industry entrepreneur. In March 2020 he registered a marketing company in Banja Luka. Things changed a few months down the line, and he instructed Rok Snežič to dissolve the company. It would seem that despite assurances, the latter hasn’t done so*.
Illustration: Jernej Žumer
VBO Marketing is officially based in a run-down shopping center in Banja Luka, in the Republic of Srpska. But when a journalist from Oštro’s partner center in Bosnia and Herzegovina visited last year, he found no sign with the company’s name, no mailbox and no traces of activity. This is typical of shell companies.
Though it doesn’t even have a mailbox at its Banja Luka headquarters, VBO Marketing presents itself online as a marketing agency, attracting customers with “cinematic-quality video production equipment, including virtual reality technology”. In fact, it has two websites, one of which is run by a US company that apparently doesn’t exist.
They also design websites and offer web hosting, but not for the websites of related Slovenian companies – Ustna Higiena VBO and Digitalno Zobozdravstvo VBO. These are hosted by a Slovenian provider and deal with the sale of toothbrushes, oral hygiene products and Invisalign ‘invisible’ braces.
The owner or co-owner of all three companies, in Banja Luka and Slovenia, is Marko Kaloh, brother of independent MP Dejan Kaloh. On his behalf, the Banja Luka company was incorporated by Dijana Đuđić – the Bosnian entrepreneur who seven years ago lent Janša’s SDS party €450,000, though when the Court of Auditors intervened, the party returned the first instalment of the loan.
Ms. Đuđić is the partner of the “doctor of tax evasion”, tax expert Rok Snežič, former advisor to Prime Minister Janez Janša during his last term in office.
At the time of publication, it emerged that Marko Kaloh had already told Mr. Snežič to liquidate the company in May 2020, but despite his promises, Mr. Snežič has not done so to date. According to Mr. Kaloh, he now claims that the dissolution of the company, which allegedly never operated, is still pending in court. They stated that they did not set up the VBO Marketing websites, having first learned about them from Oštro.
Maribor, Banja Luka, Snežič
On the day Marko Kaloh authorized Dijana Đuđić to register the company VBO Marketing in Banja Luka, March 11, 2020, Mr. Kaloh and his wife Vesna Kaloh were informing their customers at Digitalno Zobozdravstvo VBO (Digital Dentistry VBO) about measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 in a video posted on the company’s Facebook profile.
A day later, they announced they were temporarily closing their practice: “Despite the truly incredible growth and business success we are seeing this year based on five years of hard work, the current moment requires different priorities. Today we are putting the health of our employees, our growing customer base, and ourselves first.”
According to notarial documents, Mr. Kaloh was on March 11, 2020, also visiting a notary in Banja Luka, who certified VBO Marketing’s founding act and the signatures of the authorized person, i.e., Marko Kaloh, director and sole owner of the company. He authorized Ms. Đuđić to pay the founding capital of 1 Bosnian convertible mark, which she did five days later.
“If you paid any attention in school, you’d know that company liquidations are handled by the courts and not by tax advisors.”
At that time, Marko Kaloh’s temporary residence was for one month registered in the village Verići, in the municipality of Banja Luka. According to the residence registration certificate, his landlord was Radoica Đuđić, who, as our information shows, is the father of Dijana Đuđić.
In the document registering the temporary residence in the Banja Luka village, the name is spelled without a j, but according to local info it is in fact Mr. Radojica Đuđić. Rok Snežič did not dispute this claim during our telephone conversation.
We sent our questions to Dijana Đuđić at Mr. Snežič’s company email address. He responded with a phone call during which he accused us of being interested in his sex life, among other, and with an email stating that “Ms. Đuđić is willing to offer legal advice for an upfront payment of €500”.
During the call he also made the claim that we were soliciting tax advice, because we asked Ms. Đuđić whether she often used her father’s apartment in Verići to register companies for foreigners, and whether Marko Kaloh had ever been to that village.
Mr. Snežič denied that Ms. Đuđić was his partner, saying that she was his – girlfriend.
He did not comment on journalists’ email questions, stating in regard to the dissolution of the company: “If you paid any attention in school, you’d know that company liquidations are handled by the courts and not by tax advisors. The ignorance of people who consider themselves journalists 😂😂😂😂”.
He likewise did not respond to our request to send us the application he’d filed with the court, as according to our information nothing had been filed yet. Nor did he respond to whether the information that he charges €4,500 to open a company and €1,500 to close one is true.
The Banja Luka shopping center where VBO Marketing is officially registered. Photo: CIN
Phantom websites
VBO Marketing has two nearly identical websites in English. They practically differ only in the name of the company. One states that the headquarters of VBO Marketing, d. o. o., is in Banja Luka, while the other claims that the company is called VBO Marketing LLC and is based in Sharonville, Ohio, USA.
However, no such company exists in the Ohio business register. The company’s telephone number listed on the website does not begin with the area code for that state, but rather with that of the Bahamas tax haven. At the business address of VBO Marketing LLC in Ohio, a company named Davinci offers virtual office rental. The registration and tax numbers belonging to VBO Marketing in Banja Luka are also listed there.
The Bahamian business registry has been down for several months, so it has not been possible to officially verify whether VBO Marketing LLC is actually registered in that country. Other business data registries, such as InfoClipper, do not show any company registered in the Bahamas with the acronym VBO in its name.
Both websites mention Ismet Dedić as the company’s executive director. Oštro identified a person with this name who lives not far from the alleged US address of VBO Marketing LLC, and a namesake in Slovenia who frequently participates in marathons.
Neither of them responded to questions sent via Facebook Messenger.
According to available data, VBO Marketing has not yet submitted its annual report to the Banja Luka registry, so it’s not possible to independently verify whether and how it operates.
“I deeply regret my decision to open a company in Banja Luka and trusting Rok Snežič that Dijana Đuđić had taken care of everything, and that the liquidation process was underway.”
Marko Kaloh stated that the company never operated and did not have a bank account. He had established it when a braces manufacturer he represents looked to expand sales to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which then abruptly changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2020, approximately two months after the incorporation of VBO Marketing, Mr. Kaloh sent a message to Rok Snežič that he wished to close the company, and requested that he inform Dijana Đuđić who was responsible for the liquidation.
At that time, and at least ten times afterwards, Mr. Snežič allegedly assured Mr. Kaloh that the company was in the process of being deleted from the register. When he spoke to him recently, after receiving Oštro’s questions, Rok Snežič again assured him of the same thing, adding that the matter was stuck in court.
However, when Mr. Kaloh independently verified this information, he discovered that the company was in fact not being dissolved by the Banja Luka court.
“Today, I authorized attorney Obradović to lead the liquidation proceedings. The company, which never had a transactions account and never operated, will be closed as soon as possible. I deeply regret my decision to open a company in Banja Luka and trusting Rok Snežič that Dijana Đuđić had taken care of everything, and that the liquidation process was underway.”
Regarding the websites, Mr. Kaloh claims he learned about them from Oštro and that they are fraudulently abusing the VBO trademark. He thanked Oštro for the warning and instructed his lawyer to respond and, if necessary, file criminal charges against the perpetrators.
He has never heard of Ismet Dedić.
Exclusive smiles
While the Kalohs frequently post about their family life, travels and business ventures on the social media accounts of their company Digitalno Zobozdravstvo VBO, they didn’t inform their followers about the opening of their new company, VBO Marketing, in Banja Luka in 2020.
They did share their impressions from a business trip to Japan, the manufacturing country of the special toothbrushes with black silica bristles sold by the company Ustna Higiena VBO (Dental Hygiene VBO) under the name VBO premium. In its promotional material, VBO claims that the toothbrush was developed by Mr. Kaloh’s wife Vesna in collaboration with Kanagawa Dental University in Japan, and that a study by this university has proven that such a toothbrush removes plaque up to 40 percent more effectively than a regular toothbrush.
They are actually referring to the “Report on the effects of toothbrushes with black silica filaments” published by the aforementioned dental university in February 2020, evaluating the effects of the Wakka toothbrush manufactured by the Japanese company Shinyei Kaisha. Six volunteers participated in the two-day test, brushing their teeth for nine minutes at a time without toothpaste. They found that the Wakka toothbrush cleans plaque more effectively than a regular toothbrush.
The report doesn’t state that such a toothbrush is “up to 40 percent” more effective than a regular toothbrush, nor that Vesna Kaloh helped develop it.
Kanagawa Dental University did not respond to journalists’ questions about the report’s findings, and Shinyei Kaisha, the company that sold Wakka toothbrushes in 2021, declined to answer questions about Mr. Kaloh’s involvement in the development of the toothbrush and the ownership of the rights to the toothbrush model, saying that this information was a trade secret under a contract with VBO.
Oštro was referred to Marko Kaloh, director of Ustna Higiena VBO, who explained that the brush with black silica bristles was developed in collaboration with Shinyei Kaisha under the working name Wakka. Vesna Kaloh, he said, had been a key opinion leader from the start of development. Their Japanese partner had the toothbrush tested at Kanagawa Dental University.
He claimed that Ustna Higiena VBO owns the mould for the toothbrush and has exclusive rights to sell toothbrushes with black silica bristles worldwide, adding that there’s no other similar toothbrush on the global market.
However, a Mizuha brand toothbrush with black silica bristles, likewise manufactured by Shinyei Kaisha, is currently available on Amazon Germany. On its website, this company also offers interested investors the manufacture of toothbrushes that are similar in appearance to VBO toothbrushes and contain “special silica”.
Registration documents from the European Intellectual Property Office show that in April last year, the company Ustna Higiena VBO protected the design of its toothbrush, i.e. only its shape, in 23 countries. It also protected the VBO trademark.
“Marko Kaloh said that VBO is the only company selling this type of toothbrush, and that they’ve put a lot of effort and knowledge into this business.”
When asked why they chose Shinyei Kaisha and who granted them the exclusive right to manufacture black silica toothbrushes, Kaloh replied that this was confidential business information. He referred us to lawyer Aljoša Dežman for further questions.
With regard to the business relationship between VBO and Shinyei Kaisha, Mr. Dežman stated, among other, that “this is an economic and business relationship between two entities, which is, also in accordance with the contractual provisions, confidential in nature. We cannot provide any information to third parties about mutual business cooperation, nor about the content of contractual relationships and business decisions”.
We sent Shinyei Kaisha additional questions concerning production for individual customers and IP rights for the sale of products, as well as renewed questions about the nature of the exclusive cooperation on VBO toothbrushes, but they did not respond.
The Legal and Ethical Issues Committee of the Medical Chamber of Slovenia, which, according to its statutes, monitors and assesses the ethical conduct of doctors and handles complaints about their work, has been dealing with reports of alleged violations related to VBO toothbrushes since at least April this year. As the proceedings are still ongoing, they did not wish to disclose any further information.
Marko Kaloh did not wish to comment on the proceedings at the Medical Chamber. He explained that they began in January last year, and that his wife had been working with the Japanese team throughout the development of the VBO toothbrush. He emphasized that they are the only ones selling this type of toothbrush, and that they’ve put a lot of effort and knowledge into this business. They are currently conducting their own research into the effects of the proprietary toothbrush, as the basis for further development.
Anže Logar’s toothbrush
The Kalohs occasionally meet with politicians, but they do not discriminate between left and right.
In December last year, after their children won the Slovenia’s Got Talent competition with their mathematical skills, the Kaloh family was received by the mayor of Maribor, Saša Arsenovič, with whom Marko Kaloh has met at least twice more according to public announcements. In April this year, Prime Minister Robert Golob also received the Kalohs and their children in his office.
Mr. Kaloh met with former Koper mayor Boris Popovič at least twice, and with Ljubljana mayor Zoran Janković once.
Photograph of limited edition toothbrush concepts from the Facebook profile Digitalno Zobozdravstvo VBO.
In September last year, the Kalohs met with former SDS MPs Anže Logar and Eva Irgl during their visits to the Podravje region. They gifted Mr. Logar several packs of premium VBO toothbrushes featuring his image and new political platform’s logo, and agreed with Ms. Irgl that she would be receiving hers “at the next meeting”.
Marko Kaloh explained that they cooperate with high-profile personalities, making no distinction between politicians, entertainers or athletes.
Marko’s brother, Dejan Kaloh, who was an SDS MP between 2018 and 2024, but later on, like Mr. Logar and Ms. Irgl, did not sign a declaration of loyalty to the party, was associated with Anže Logar for some time. He eventually left the SDS and intended to join Mr. Logar’s party. Following a dispute between them in the National Assembly, he is now an unaffiliated MP, but in June he founded a new party, Suvereni.
Among other, the party advocates withdrawal from international treaties related to the green transition, reform of the Natura 2000 program by easing the conditions for economic activity in protected areas, and withdrawal from “global organizations that impose globalist agendas on our nation and economy”.
“Every Slovenian citizen must respect the law, pay taxes and contribute to society,” reads the latest version of the Suvereni party program. Its website also states that Suvereni will uncompromisingly fight corruption.
“We alerted Dejan Kaloh to the fact his brother’s companies were not on the restricted list by email in July last year, and then again in June this year.”
As a member of parliament, Mr. Kaloh still hasn’t registered his brother’s companies on the list of companies with restrictions on business activities with the government, in violation of the Integrity and Prevention of Corruption Act. Oštro pointed out this irregularity in September last year, when we published data on the assets of MPs as part of the Asset Detector project, which identifies and investigates the assets of politicians and their immediate families.
We alerted Dejan Kaloh to the fact his brother’s companies were not on the restricted list by email in July last year, and then again in June this year. He did not respond to journalists’ questions, and at the time of publication, Marko Kaloh’s companies were still not on the list maintained by the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption.
Aladin Abdagić (CIN) and Sharad Vyas (OCCRP ID) also cooperated in this investigation.
*The article in Slovene was published on July 8, 2025.