The Commercial District Court in Banja Luka acquitted the former Prime Minister of the Republika Srpska (RS) Aleksandar Dzombic in the first-instance proceedings for abuse of office when granting a loan in 2012 to the company “Energolinija” from Zvornik, finding that the allegations in the indictment were unfounded.
In 2012, Dzombic was the Prime Minister and the president of the Credit Committee of the Assembly of Shareholders of the RS Investment-Development Bank (IRBRS), and the indictment of the RS Public Prosecutor’s Office accuses him of decisively influencing “Energolinija” to receive 19.4 million BAM, even though it was not creditworthy at that time.
Judge Dragan Uletilovic said during the reading of the first-instance verdict that the accused acted in good faith to comply with the request of “Energolinija”, and that the Trial Chamber determined that the allegations in the indictment were unfounded.
“There is no individual responsibility of the accused, there is no intention to cause damage. Also, the allegations are unfounded, and it has not been proven that the accused put pressure on the former director of the IRBRS, Milenko Pavlovic,” Uletilovic stated.
The court panel also rejected the prosecutor’s claims that the accused was obliged to monitor the intended use of IRBRS funds, especially due to the fact that Dzombic already left his position in the Government of RS in 2013.
Lawyer Zoran Bubic, who defends Aleksandar Dzombic, said after the verdict that this was expected because from the beginning there was no evidence against his client.
“The Prosecution referred to witnesses whose statements show that Dzombic did not commit a criminal offense. We expressed our doubt that any accused was sought from the beginning to save the case in an environment when foreign Lithuanian citizens left and ceased to be available to the prosecuting authorities ” said Bubic.
Furthermore, he pointed out that the accused is not responsible for the slow reaction of the prosecuting authorities.
“I have to say that the investigation was led by another prosecutor, not the acting prosecutor, Dr. Jankovic. So, they pushed an excellent lawyer into a procedure in which the indictment had no chance,” stated Bubic, and added that his client suffered damage due to the entire procedure, Detektor reports.
E.Dz.
