The Assigned Prosecutor of the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption within the Prosecutor's Office of BiH filed a motion for remand in custody of four persons who were deprived of liberty by SIPA in morning hours of March 9, 2013 and handed over to the Prosecutor's Office of BiH as part of the continuing operation code named "Panama", which was carried out in 2011.
The suspects are charged with having, together with other persons known to them, during the period from January 2009 to end of August 2011, organized smuggling and smuggled a total of 139 trucks of raw coffee in the amount of 3,197,980 kg worth approximately 14,390,000.00 BAM which is why there exists grounded suspicion that they committed the criminal offense of Organizing a Group or Association for Smuggling or Distribution of Goods on Which Duties Were Not Paid under Article 215 CC BiH; criminal offense of Customs Fraud under Article 216 of the CC BiH; criminal offense Tax Evasion or Fraud under Article 210 of the CC BiH and criminal offense of Money Laundering under Article 209 of the CC BiH, all in conjunction with Article 31 of the Criminal Code of BiH.
After questioning the suspects, the Assigned Prosecutor filed a motion for remand in custody in duration of 30 days with the Court of BiH for the four suspects from Kiseljak, with the following initials R.D. (1976), M.O. (1985), D.O. (1978) and M.N. (1976).
The prosecutor requested custody on grounds stipulated in Article 132, Paragraph 1, Subparagraphs a) and b) of the CPC BiH.
Among other things, custody was requested due to risk of flight, especially due to the fact that apart form BiH citizenship they all hold Croatian citizenship as well, and Croatia does not extradite its nationals; as well as due to risk that the suspects could interfere with the criminal proceedings by influencing witnesses if released.
Custody motion was filed with the Court of BiH and the Prosecutor's Office of BiH continues its investigation in the matter aiming to proceed with the indictment.