HIGH LEVEL CORRUPTION INDICTMENT CONFIRMED
13.01.2023. 15:54A Prosecutor of the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption of the BiH Prosecutor’s Office issued an indictment on 28 December 2022, which includes the accused: MATE ŽARIĆ, born in 1956 in the municipality of Jablanica, citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia; MILA BULE, born in 1955 in Ljubuški, citizen of BiH; ALEKSANDAR ŠUKALO, AKA "Saša", born in 1975 in Gradiška, citizen of BiH; ZORAN MANOJLOVIĆ, born in 1955 in Mrkonjić Grad, citizen of BiH, and DRAGO MALEŠEVIĆ, born in 1959 in Banja Luka, citizen of BiH.
The accused are charged with having, in the period from 8 April 2015 to 22 August 2018, while acting in their capacities as responsible persons in the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, taken advantage of their official position to fail to perform their official duties and thus aquired benefit for others and caused damage to the legal entity "Elektroprijenos-Elektroprenos BiH" a.d. Banja Luka in the amount of BAM 454,957.95.
According to the indictment, the accused Mate Žarić is charged with having, in his capacity as the general director of "Elektroprijenos-Elektroprenos BiH" a.d. Banja Luka and the orderer of works required, concluded a contract with a legal entity as the contractor performing the works on 8 April 2015 on the construction of the substation TS 110/20 KV Šipovo with the installation of equipment in the amount of BAM 5,323,008.44 within the period of eighteen /18/ months from the date on which instructions were given to the contractor for the job with payment of an advance.After the advance was paid to the legal entity in the amount of BAM 532,300.84 the contractor’s contractual obligations were not completed within the period defined in the aforementioned contract, thus exceeding the deadline for the execution of works in the total amount of 77 days.
The accused failed to comply with the contract based on which the contractor was obliged to pay the agreed penalty in the amount of 0.3% of the total value of the contracted works without VAT for each calendar day of exceeding the deadline for the execution of the contract to the client "Elektroprijenos-Elektroprenos BiH" a.d. Banja Luka.
As a result of this omission by the accused to calculate and collect default interest, damage was caused to the company "Elektroprijenos-Elektroprenos BiH" a.d. Banja Luka, the company that is responsible for the distribution of electricity throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, and others have acquired property benefit.
Regarding their role in the perpetration of the criminal offense, the accused are charged in their capacities as follows: Drago Malešević as the Head of the Department for Commercial Affairs of the Banja Luka Operational Area "Elektroprijenos-Elektroprenos BiH" a.d. Banja Luka, Zoran Manojlović as an employee and project manager of the Banja Luka Operational Area "Elektroprijenos-Elektroprenos BiH" a.d. Banja Luka, Mila Bule as the executive director for finance and member of the board of "Elektroprijenos-Elektroprenos BiH" a.d. Banja Luka, and Mate Žarić as the general director of "Elektroprijenos-Elektroprenos BiH" a.d. Banja Luka.
The indictment was confirmed by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.