Action after almost a month: SIPA arrests one person in Banja Luka for money laundering, MUP RS assists

(Patria) - SIPA members arrested one person in the Banja Luka area this morning. This person is suspected of the criminal offense of money laundering. The action was carried out on the order of the Court of BiH issued at the request of the BiH Prosecutor's Office. As Istraga.ba has learned, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska was also informed of this action, whose members provided assistance to SIPA.

This is the first SIPA action in the territory of Republika Srpska since February 28 this year, when acting director Darko Ćulum ordered to "temporarily suspend all activities".

This morning's action was carried out only by inspectors from the Criminal Investigation Department and the Financial Intelligence Department of SIPA. The special unit was not engaged.

Although information had previously appeared that SIPA was operating in the territory of RS, this was not the case. SIPA recently refused to participate in an international operation carried out together with France. At that time, the State Investigation and Protection Agency sent a letter to the BiH Prosecutor's Office, registered under number 16-04 2-04-1-2111-2/25 (dated March 13, delivered March 14), requesting the BiH Prosecutor's Office to "entrust the implementation of the Court of BiH Order to the BiH Border Police, for reasons of general security situation".

In order to conceal the illegal actions of SIPA director Darko Ćulum, state prosecutors Džermin Pašić and Dubravko Čampara suggested to prosecutor Sanja Romić-Ljuboje and SIPA director Darko Ćulum to "join" several of their inspectors to the BiH Border Police teams in order to create the appearance that SIPA is operating in the territory of Republika Srpska. After that, prosecutor Čampara, through officials of the FMUP, disseminated information that morning that SIPA was also participating in this action.

We remind you that the National Assembly of Republika Srpska voted at the end of February for the Law on Non-application of Laws and Prohibition of Activities of Certain BiH Institutions in the Territory of Republika Srpska.

"This law stipulates the non-application and non-execution of laws and the prohibition of activities of unconstitutional BiH institutions in the territory of Republika Srpska. The Law on the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina ("Official Gazette of BiH", no. 49/09, 74/09 and 97/09) will not be applied or executed in the territory of Republika Srpska. The Law on the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina ("Official Gazette of BiH", no. 42/03, 3/03, 37/03, 42/03, 9/04, 35/04, 61/04 and 97/09) will not be applied or executed in the territory of Republika Srpska. The Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina ("Official Gazette of BiH", no. 25/04, 93/05, 48/07, 63/23, 9/24 and 50/24) will not be applied or executed in the territory of Republika Srpska. The Law on the State Investigation and Protection Agency ("Official Gazette of BiH", no. 27/04, 63/04, 35/05, 49/09 and 40/12) will not be applied or executed in the territory of Republika Srpska", it is stated in the Law adopted by the NSRs.

All this followed after the Court of BiH sentenced Dodik to one year in prison and a six-year ban from holding office for not implementing the OHR's decisions. Although a central arrest warrant was issued for Milorad Dodik, SIPA and other police agencies never even attempted to arrest him.

We note that this is the first SIPA action since February 28 in the territory of RS. The action was carried out after Darko Ćulum transferred his powers to Ernad Musić, Vahidin Šahinpašić, and Novak Mijović.