VETERINARY INSPECTORS OF BIH VETERINARY OFFICE ENTER INTO PLEA AGREEMENT ADMITTING GUILT FOR CORRUPTION OFFENSES

The sentences proposed are suspended prison sentences, fines and measures of prohibition from performing occupation, business activities or official duties for a period of five (5) years after the pronouncement of the sentence.

In the presence of their attorneys, Indira Dajić-Hukić (1967) and Mladen Mijić (1959), the accused employees of the Veterinary Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, have signed Plea Agreements thus fully admitting their guilt for the criminal offenses of corruption (namely, the criminal offense of Accepting Gifts or Other Forms of Benefit, referred to in Article 217 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina).

The above-mentioned accused persons were employed as veterinary inspectors of the Veterinary Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and they were in charge of controlling the import of food of animal origin at the Bosnia and Herzegovina border crossing. They pleaded guilty for accepting gifts or other forms of benefit in order to favour certain legal or natural persons during the import of the food of animal origin to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Pursuant to the Plea Agreements, the following sentences have been proposed for these accused persons:

-       For Indira Dajić-Hukić: a sentence of imprisonment for a term of one (1) year, which will not be executed if the accused does not commit a new criminal offense within a period of two (2) years, plus a fine in the amount of 6,000 BAM and confiscation of the material gain unlawfully acquired in the course of the commission of the criminal offense covered by the Indictment, as well as prohibition from performing occupation, business activities or official duties of a veterinary inspector in the Veterinary Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the next five (5) years.

-       For Mladen Mijić: a sentence of imprisonment for a term of one (1) year, which will not be executed if the accused does not commit a new criminal offense within a period of two (2) years, plus a fine in the amount of 7,000 BAM and confiscation of the material gain unlawfully acquired in the course of the commission of the criminal offense covered by the Indictment, as well as prohibition from performing occupation, business activities or official duties of a veterinary inspector in the Veterinary Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the next five (5) years.

The proposed sentences are in accordance with the accused persons’ role and responsibility in the commission of the said criminal offenses.

By virtue of this Plea Agreement, the accused persons have waived their right to a trial and the right to appeal the Judgment pronounced against them by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the basis of the Plea Agreements.

Given that the third accused person in this case had previously pleaded guilty and signed a Plea Agreement, the case is completely finished in this way.

After due deliberation, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina accepted the aforementioned Plea Agreements.