NOVALIĆ'S LEGAL TEAM Jahić filed criminal charges against Gordana Tadić

Interview by: Amina Čorbo-Zećo

Elmir Jahić, a member of Fadil Novalić's legal team, filed criminal charges with the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton against former Chief Prosecutor of the BiH Prosecutor's Office, Gordana Tadić.

We remind you that Novalić's legal team had previously filed charges against judge Enida Hadžiomerović, who confirmed the indictment in the 'Respirators' case.

“It is already known to the public that we filed criminal charges against judge Hadžiomerović, and we announced new ones at the time. Specifically, after a summarized analysis of all the evidence obtained by Novalić's legal team, there is a basis for suspicion that Gordana Tadić, then Chief Prosecutor of the BiH Prosecutor's Office, committed several criminal offenses with her actions. In connection with this, and in order to verify these grounds for suspicion, we decided to file criminal charges against Tadić,” Jahić stated.

He explained that there are also elements for filing charges with the Disciplinary Prosecutor's Office.

“It is important to know that a criminal complaint does not exclude a disciplinary complaint, and vice versa,” Jahić said.

In an interview with Patria, the lawyer reminded the public that on May 29, 2020, Tadić appeared on Face TV and stated on the program that SIPA had determined the jurisdiction of the BiH Prosecutor's Office and that they had therefore taken over the case that was originally formed in the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton.

“With such a statement, she knowingly said this. Especially someone holding the position of Chief Prosecutor of the BiH Prosecutor's Office must know that such a statement does not correspond to the actual facts. Namely, during May 2020, there were no operational or official data from SIPA regarding the 'Respirators' case. On May 4, 2020, a meeting was held at SIPA, attended by Tadić, Sabina Sarajlija as the Cantonal Chief Prosecutor, acting Director of the Public Procurement Agency Dženan Salčin, and SIPA managers.

According to the official minutes of that meeting, it can be concluded that they concluded, based on assumptions or indications, that the state Prosecutor's Office might have jurisdiction. A formal document supports this, which is a letter from June 10, where she states, in June, not May, that she undertook certain activities through the financial service to verify the allegations regarding the grounds for suspicion that some criminal offenses were committed during the procurement of respirators, and that these are offenses within the jurisdiction of the BiH Court, i.e., the BiH Prosecutor's Office.

By the time the indictment was filed in December 2020, the Prosecutor's Office had already received and possessed evidence obtained through international financial assistance that there was no basis for suspicion of committing a criminal offense on which the BiH Prosecutor's Office's indictment would be based.

“Tadić undoubtedly had all this evidence, considering that she personally appointed the prosecutorial team, contrary to the regulations,” Jahić said.

We remind you that specifically in December 2020, along with the indictment submitted by the Prosecutor's Office, there were only requests for international legal assistance sent to the competent authorities of Montenegro, Serbia, Great Britain, Croatia, and Slovenia.

Therefore, the request is only an indication. It is indicative that the Prosecutor's Office did not inform the Court about the evidence – SIPA documents from the sixth, ninth, and tenth months when filing the indictment, where in June they informed that they had undertaken activities to verify allegations of money laundering, conspiracy to commit a criminal offense, and in September the Prosecutor's Office received a letter from SIPA informing them that they had received information from Montenegro confirming that there were no grounds for suspicion or traces of a legal entity from China opening an account.

What is important to emphasize is that Novalić and others were acquitted in cases where the BiH Court had actual jurisdiction.

Watch the full interview below