”Selmo Cikotic, the current Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), pleaded not guilty before the State Court for abuse of office, ie the indictment alleges that in the period from 2009 to 2011 when he held the position of State Minister of Defense, he damaged the BiH budget by of about 9.7 million BAM, ” reports Balkan Investigative Research Network (BIRN).
At yesterday‘s hearing before the Court of BiH, Selmo Cikotic pleaded not guilty to the acts charged in the indictment of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH.
As previously announced by the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, Cikotic is charged with abusing the official position of the State Minister of Defense in the period from 2009 to 2011 by illegally favoring the buyer, to the detriment of the ministry he headed, during the export plan and sales of surplus obsolete weapons, ammunition, and military equipment.
The indictment alleges that the accused made changes to the contract completely illegally and bypassing the envisaged legal procedures, without informing his deputies, as well as the Presidency of BiH, after which he exported weapons and ammunition of higher quality and market demand to the company ‘Scout’ d.o.o. Zagreb, instead of obsolete weapons and ammunition, which was intended for write-off and sale in order to reduce storage and maintenance costs, all that by making changes in the contract, thus damaging the BiH budget by about 9.7 million BAM, as he also obtained material gain for others in the amount of several million, ” it was mentioned in an earlier statement of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH.
According to the indictment, Cikotic, as an official in the executive bodies of BiH, caused damage to the BiH budget by his actions and obtained a large amount of property gain for others, thus committing a prolonged criminal offense of abuse of office or authority.
Cikotic’s trial should begin in the upcoming period.
E.Dz.
Source: Federalna
