Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik reacted to the arrest of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Minister of Security Nenad Nešić, describing it as a “politically motivated proceeding”.
“The proceeding initiated by the BiH Prosecutor’s Office against BiH Minister of Security Nenad Nešić is completely unacceptable. This way of working represents the persecution of personnel from Republika Srpska with the aim of destabilizing it”, stated Dodik.
He added that the BiH Prosecutor’s Office, in his opinion, “has become an instrument of foreign embassies and the Sarajevo political scene for a showdown with Republika Srpska”.
“If there are suspicions of illegal actions, the proceeding should be conducted in accordance with the law, and not turned into a media spectacle”, concluded Dodik.
The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed today that Nenad Nešić, Minister of Security of BiH, has been deprived of his liberty, Anadolu reports.
In an investigation conducted by the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina together with the Directorate for Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska, on December 26, in a case of corruption crimes, Nenad Nešić, Minister of Security in the Council of Ministers of BiH, Milan Dakić, Director of JP Putevi RS, Mladen Lučić and four other persons were deprived of their liberty by order of the prosecutor.
“They are suspected of having committed criminal offenses as managers of JP Putevi RS and persons who did business with the aforementioned company – conspiracy to commit criminal offenses, money laundering, abuse of official position or authority and accepting bribes,” the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH said in a statement.
It added that the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina will inform the public about the further course of the investigation at a later date.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Srpska is searching the premises of the Roads of the Republic of Srpska, and has arrested the Minister of State Security Nenad Nešić and Mladen Lučić, a businessman and brother of former Minister Miloš Lučić. The reason is suspicions of corruption during public procurement.
According to information from Banja Luka portals, the police said at the entrance to the business building where several institutions are located that they were going to the “Šuma Srpske” directorate, but that they ended up going to the floor of the “Putevi RS” company.
Potential corruption during public procurement is being investigated, at the time when the director was Nenad Nešić, who is the current state minister. Mladen Lučić is part of the investigation, probably as the director of the “Legend” company, which did business with “Putevi RS-a”. He is also the owner of the “Snježna dolina” resort on Jahorina. He is suspected of receiving a bribe from 2019.
The Prosecutor’s Office of BiH has previously investigated suspicions that companies that maintain roads were forced to cooperate with the company “Legend” d.o.o. by purchasing abrasive road-sanding material (salt) from him at significantly higher prices than market prices.
The Directorate for Combating Organized Crime began its investigation in 2019. Even then, it was suspected that Nešić and Lučić earned several million BAM on the sale of salt from Egypt, imported by the company “Legend”, because they allegedly sold salt at a price three times higher than the one at which it was purchased and that they blackmailed road companies into having to buy salt from “Legend”.
Nešić, in the context of his mandate as the director of Putevi RS, was also investigated by the East Sarajevo Prosecutor’s Office, on suspicion of forcing the road company to pave certain streets before the elections.
In addition, it is suspected that the way in which they conducted tenders was illegal and the business operations of “Putevi RS” are being investigated.
In addition to the above, the current director of “Putevi RS”, Milan Dakić, and four other people were also arrested. The BiH Prosecutor’s Office officially reported that they are suspected of abuse of office, money laundering and accepting bribes, Klix.ba writes.
