PRE-TRIAL CUSTODY PROPOSED FOR PERSON SUSPECTED OF CORRUPTION OFFENCES

A prosecutor of the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has put forward a Motion for Pre-Trial Custody with the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in relation to the following suspect:

- Damir Kovačević, born in 1980 in Ključ, employed as a police officer with the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Custody measure has not been requested for the second suspect in this case (Joja Praštalo).

The measure of custody has been proposed due to the danger that, if at large, the suspect may hinder the investigation and conceal evidence, or influence witnesses or accomplices, or repeat the criminal offence or complete the criminal offence.

The aforementioned suspect is under investigation and he is charged, as an employee of the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with finding persons who applied for employment and requesting and receiving money from them, usually in amounts of several thousand BAM, for an alleged employment in the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Institute for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and making possible for them on several occasions to receive questions and materials pertaining to the employment procedure, which was unlawful.

Also, the aforementioned suspect is charged with disposing of a large sum of money, namely over one (1) million BAM, as well as with taking a loan of around EUR 46,000 from a Serbian citizen, which he did not return to him.

These suspects are charged with the commission of the criminal offence of Accepting Reward or Other Forms of Benefit for Trading in Influence, referred to in Article 219, as well as the criminal offence of Money Laundering, referred to in Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina will remove these suspects from the respective police structures until the completion of the proceedings.