What happens to property acquired unlawfully through criminal acts, such as fraud, after the perpetrator is convicted?
Eighty-one-year-old Adil Medic is one of the victims of real estate fraud in a case known as “Nekretnine Pelak” (Pelak Real Estate). He was left without both his property and 110.000 BAM (about 55.000 euros) he gave to Mihrija Pelak, the former owner of a real estate agency.
Subsequent court rulings have unblocked most of her assets because the court concluded they were not proven to be acquired through criminal activity, explains lawyer Mirza Alisah.
What is needed to confiscate illegally acquired property?
Over the past decade, the judiciary in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has been equipped with additional tools after laws on confiscating illegally acquired property were adopted in both entities of BiH.
There is progress compared to the time when Mihrija Pelak was being prosecuted, but it is slow, explains Professor Eldan Mujanovic. He adds that confiscating illegally acquired property requires conducting complex financial investigations and expert assessments.
Josip Anicic, a prosecutor in the West Herzegovina Canton (WHC), says that prosecution offices and police agencies do not have enough officials with knowledge of economics, and some prosecution offices lack them altogether.
Anicic notes that prosecutors must send written requests to all courts in BiH if they want to verify whether a certain person owns any real estate.
Problems with property confiscation in courts
However, in judicial practice, things often do not happen that way. This is demonstrated by the case of Selmo Cikotic, former Minister of Defense. At the end of last year, he was convicted by the Court of BiH to three years in prison, on charges of abuse of office, during his time as Minister of Defense of BiH.
“This blatant example of abuse of position and authority undermines the trust of citizens in the state,” said Judge Mirsad Strika, when delivering the verdict. He added that the court could not precisely determine the extent of the damage to BiH, so the state was directed to “seek compensation by initiating a civil procedure.”
Sarajevo lawyer Alen Nakic explains that if the court determines by its verdict that someone has defrauded or damaged someone, it should oblige the convicted person to return the money or compensate the victim with the same verdict. However, he says, courts often refer the damaged parties to civil proceedings, which usually last longer than six years.
“By doing so, the court only prolongs the agony of the damaged party, and gives the perpetrator time to dispose of that property, which could potentially be a source for compensation,” explains Nakic, Slobodna Evropa reports.
E.Dz.
