A Prosecutor of the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption has issued an indictment against the following persons:

1.      Mile Ilić, born in 1985 in Lopare, residing in Bijeljina, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina

2.      Zoran Jovanović, born in 1973 in Gradačac, residing in Šamac, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina

3.      Špiro Subotić, born in 1958 in Breza, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, employed with the Indirect Taxation Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a customs officer in the Šamac Customs Office

4.      Ahmed Beširević, born in 1983 in Brčko, employed with the Indirect Taxation Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a customs officer in the Šamac Customs Office

The accused Ilić and Jovanović are charged with joining an organized group of people which included foreign nationals from several countries with companies based in Belgrade, and becoming part of an organized network of resellers and intermediaries for smuggling and sale of excise tobacco products (namely, waterpipe tobacco and hookah flavourings), which are excise products. Although aware that they do not have the necessary approvals or excise stamps for those products, they smuggled large quantities of tobacco products, several tons of them, from the territory of the Republic of Serbia to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they illegally placed the tobacco products on the market.

The Indictment alleges that the accused Ilić forged the documentation required for import, while the accused Jovanović transported the goods and hired drivers, as well as organized customs officers of the Šamac Customs Office, who allowed vehicles to pass without customs inspection in order to receive gifts or other forms of benefit, after which the products were illegally placed on the market, without the paid excises and without appropriate excise stamps, all of which caused damage to the budget of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the amount of 608,503.40 BAM.

The aforementioned accused persons are charged with the commission of the following criminal offenses: Organizing a Group or Association for Smuggling or Distribution of Goods on Which Duties Were Not Paid, under Article 215 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Smuggling of Goods, under Article 214 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Illicit Trade in Excise Products under Article 210a of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Giving Gifts and Other Forms of Benefit, under Article 218 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Accepting Gifts and Other Forms of Benefit, under Article 217 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina; and Abuse of Office of Official Authority, under Article 220 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Prosecutor’s Office will prove the allegations of the prosecution by calling twenty-two (22) witnesses and an expert witness, as well as by enclosing and presenting dozens of pieces of material evidence.

The Indictment has been forwarded to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.