In the criminal case against Željko Latinović, having completed the deliberation and voting process, the Appellate Division Panel of Section II for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has delivered and on 21 June 2019 pronounced the judgment finding the accused Željko Latinović guilty of the criminal offense of Tax Evasion or Fraud under Article 210(2), in conjunction with Article 29, of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The accused Željko Latinović has been found guilty of the following: during the business year of 2011 in Laktaši, Duško Latinović as the manager and responsible person at the legal entity, upon prior agreement with Željko Latinović, the founder of the legal entity LATIN DRVO d.o.o. Laktaši, Veliko Blaško bb, which is a value/added tax payer, with the intention to get an ill-founded refund based on indirect taxes prescribed by the tax legislation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, knowing that IGO-STELL company d.o.o. Laktaši did not perform any business activities in 2011, that it therefore could not have possibly issued outgoing invoices and no transaction could have been made in terms of Article 4 of the VAT Law, Duško Latinović has, as the manager, on behalf of the legal entity LATIN DRVO d.o.o. Laktaši, submitted a VAT return (self-taxation) for the tax period 01/12/11 – 31/12/11 with false contents. Based on the fictitious invoice to the amount of 100,421.00 KM, submitted by the legal entity IGO-STELL company d.o.o., in terms of Article 64 of the VAT Law and Article 16 of the Law on Indirect Taxation Authority, whose box 80 of the mentioned VAT return was marked with “X”, the accused has requested from the BiH Indirect Taxation Authority a refund of input VAT in the total amount of 15,045 KM. The thus completed VAT return was signed by Željko Latinović as the founder of the given legal entity, while Duško Latinović, as the manager of the legal entity LATIN DRVO d.o.o. Laktaši submitted the VAT return to the BiH Indirect Taxation Authority, which on 30 January 2012 refunded to the legal entity LATIN DRVO d.o.o. Laktaši the VAT the amount of 15,045.00 KM, which included the requested VAT refund in the amount of 14,591.00 KM, thus making it possible for the legal entity LATIN DRVO d.o.o. Laktaši to make profit in the aforementioned amount, while causing damage to the BiH budget.
The Court sentenced the accused Željko Latinović to 6 (six) months of imprisonment.
Pursuant to Article 188(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the accused shall cover the costs of the criminal proceedings in the scheduled amount of 150.00 KM, within 15 days of the day when the judgment becomes final, under the threat of enforcement.
