AUDIO Mirsad Kukić pressures cantonal MP of SDA: Foreigners start monitoring (criminal) case

Former state MP and founder of the ruling PDA Mirsad Kukić pressured Fadil Kudumović, a cantonal MP of SDA in the Tuzla Canton, by trading influence over a criminal case being processed by the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office in Tuzla. Kukić, namely, pressured an SDA MP whose vote could determine the survival of the Tuzla Canton Government, writes Istraga.ba.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKoI3LBcCnM

Mirsad Kukić trades influence in a criminal case - YouTube

Mirsad Kukić trades influence in a criminal case

“Foreigners are starting to monitor the case. This means I will try to get 15-20 days, I definitely won't go to the prosecutor, I'll find some reasons, but of course, I will have to go,” Kukić said during a conversation with Fadil Kudumović.

And here's what it's about. In May 2020, Fadil Kudumović was appointed acting director of RMU Banovići, which effectively meant Mirsad Kukić lost control over that mine. Kudumović immediately dismissed Kukić's appointees, including Elzina Pirić, Pašan Dostović, Rasim Dostović, and other PDA cadres. Immediately after the dismissal of these cadres, a criminal complaint was filed against the acting director Fadil Kudumović (SDA). Based on that complaint, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tuzla Canton filed a report on October 20, 2021, against Fadil Kudumović on suspicion of having harmed 21 people by terminating their employment contracts. The Cantonal Prosecutor's Office in Tuzla then "formed" a case, and only in April 2023 did they request the Municipal Court in Banovići to issue an order for the temporary seizure of items related to this case.

The president of the Municipal Court in Banovići, who issued the order in this case, is Envera Kukić, wife of PDA founder Mirsad Kukić, whose name is on the US blacklist.

“I sent you a message through Tica (Šahbaz Lapandić, former SBB president) a long time ago, I don't know if he conveyed it to you or not. Uh, that we should sit down and look at all these stupidities. You know how it went, how it flowed. First, what I talked to you about in a way, and so on, a person always – it will be, it won't be, it won't be like this. I told you about some stupidities that could happen,” Kukić tells the reported Kudumović, who is currently an MP in the Tuzla Canton Assembly.

However, what could be particularly problematic is the part where Mirsad Kukić talks about "some kind of protection from criminal prosecution".

“I thought you realistically had someone, some kind of protection, and I don't give a damn, it's your job to do the work, and I think we should talk about this. It's up to you if you want to talk, if you don't, it's no problem, because all these developments that are happening, as much as you see, as much as you don't see. I have refused to testify three or four times so far, now I am at the stage where I have to testify, but I didn't want to give it to the police, because the other day a woman from the criminal police called me again, a blonde woman, whether her name was Sabina or… it doesn't matter. And I told them I have no intention of giving them anything. Then you will give it to the prosecutor, she said. I said, I will give it to the prosecutor so we know who is lying and who is not, so we can see who can be trusted, and in the end, such a record was made with this blonde woman,” Kukić said, admitting that he had already spoken with that inspector on some issues.

Let us remind you, Mirsad Kukić is a former vice-president of SDA who was expelled in March 2018. After that, he founded the PDA party and became its president. In the 2018 elections, he managed to win a mandate in the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament. After the 2018 elections, his party formed a coalition with SDP and Naša stranka in the Tuzla Canton and appointed a cantonal government that was dismissed in 2019.

In 2020, Kukić lost control of the Municipality of Banovići when his then-friend Bego Gutić, as an SDA candidate, won the race for mayor. In January 2022, the US authorities imposed sanctions on Mirsad Kukić, accusing him of corruption. Kukić withdrew from the position of PDA president and installed Elzina Pirić in that position. The party he founded remained in coalition with SDP, NiP, and Naša stranka at the FBiH level. Kukić, with the FBiH Government led by Nermin Nikšić, gained control of the Banovići Mine and in the meantime managed to secure two SDA votes in the Banovići Municipal Council to vote no confidence in Bego Gutić. At the same time, with SDP and NS, he is trying to dismiss the Tuzla Canton Government, which consists of SDA, DF, and SBiH.