At the trial of the former Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Selmo Cikotic, the Prosecution’s expert said that by changing the contract on the sale of weapons, contrary to the provisions, the price of the sold ammunition was increased.
Expert Berko Zecevic, in the continuation of his findings, spoke about the second contract from 2004 that the Agency for the Trade of Arms and Military Equipment of the Republika Srpska (RS) reached with the company “Scout” from Zagreb, as well as about the third annex from 2010, which reduced the amount of ammunition and increased price of goods.
Zecevic said that the original contract from 2004 planned the sale of six different types of ammunition at a price of around 840,000 dollars. He noted that in that contract, as in the previous one, the types of ammunition were not correctly marked, that the sale was based on the “sold as seen” principle, and that the deadline for collection was 15 days.
“That was in 2004, and the delivery is still ongoing,” said the expert.
He added that certain deliveries were made, and then there was a standstill and reforms in the defense sector and the formation of the Ministry of Defense at the state level, and activities were initiated to implement the contract and prepare an overview of the state and surplus in weapons.
“The problem is in the fact that there are three armies, they all have their own bookkeeping, plus the fourth bookkeeping of the Ministry of Defense,” noted Zecevic, adding that the dynamics were also slowed down by the Presidency’s decision.
Speaking about “annex three”, which is the subject of the indictment, the expert said that changes were made in the type of ammunition and its quantity was reduced, and that the total price was increased to about 1.3 million, which makes the difference compared to the original price about 480,000 dollars.
“Ammunition was delivered that was not the subject of the contract… The price was increased contrary to the article of ‘Annex Three’,” stressed Zecevic.
According to him, the value of the contract was increased with the explanation that the originally contracted goods were not in stock, which was not true. He added that the Minister of Defense signed four decisions on deliveries of different types of ammunition.
The indictment accuses Cikotic that in the period from 2009 to 2011 – in agreement with other persons, with the aim of obtaining benefits – he used his official position and favored the company “Scout” from Zagreb.
As stated, Cikotic, contrary to the Agreement on the final disposal of all rights and obligations over movable property from 2008 and the decisions of the BiH Presidency, made and signed two decisions approving the delivery, i.e. exchange of goods, and four decisions on the delivery of ammunition. According to the indictment, he concluded four annexes to the basic contracts on the sale of unpromising weapons and ammunition concluded in 2003 and 2004.
Zecevic will continue presenting his findings on April 4th, Detektor reports.
E.Dz.
