Defense expert Christoph Rojahn said at yesterday’s trial before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to the Federal Prime Minister Fadil Novalic (SDA) and others accused of abuse of position in the procurement of respirators that the most challenging issue was money laundering.
”It is very difficult to say what the real price would be for that type of device in that time period,” Rojahn stressed.
He stated that on the basis of public reports and media analyzes, he came to the data that ACM 812A respirators cost several thousand BAM and that later the price was five-digit. Hementioned some sources on prices in various currencies.
The expert calculated that the margin of the company “Srebrena Malina” was seven percent and that it was low, although, as he said, he was not an expert on that issue. Rojahn analyzed two Chinese companies – the one that produced respirators and the one that was a trade intermediary in the purchase, and which is registered for medical devices.
According to him, the manufacturer is a state-owned company that has large businesses and a wide range of goods. He explained that it has five international certificates and that it is not in the register of violations.
The expert witness said that the most challenging issue for him was the process of money laundering.
“I don’t understand at what point it was done? What part of the money should have been laundered? Is it state money?” Rojahn told.
He pointed out that he used the documents submitted by the defense for the finding, but that he also had to use data from the Internet.
Apart from Novalic, the suspended director of the Federal Civil Protection Administration (FUCZ), Fahrudin Solak, the director of “Srebrena Malina“, Fikret Hodzic, as well as the company itself, and the Federal Minister of Finance, Jelka Milicevic (HDZ), are accused of abuses of position during the procurement of respirators.
In his introductory presentation, Rojahn said that he had a law degree, a PhD in political science and that now he works as a consultant. He noted he has spent most of his career in forensic accounting and has worked for international financial companies such as Deloitte, KPMG, and PWC.
Stating that there is a huge amount of evidence in relation to what the defense submitted to him, Hukeljic asked Rojahn if he would have made different conclusions if he had received more material. The expert witness said he could not know that.
E.Dz.
