Four individuals and a legal entity indicted for smuggling over 30 tons of cut tobacco and excise tax evasion

SARAJevo, (Patria) - The prosecutor of the Special Department for Organized, Economic Crime and Corruption has filed an indictment including the accused: Seid and Ifet Papračanin, Tomislav Matić “Grandpa Tomo“, Boris Čato and the legal entity B-Label d.o.o. Vitez, with its headquarters in Vitez.

The accused are charged with acting as an organized criminal group, during 2017 and 2018, illegally purchasing leaf tobacco from several companies in the Posavina region, in a quantity of almost 100 tons. 

The aforementioned tobacco, contrary to legal regulations, was processed into cut tobacco, which was then sold without calculating and paying excise duties, which for a kilogram of tobacco, during 2017 and 2018, amounted to about 100 KM per kilogram, thereby achieving illegal property gain and causing damage to the budget and all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The indictment states that the accused certainly processed about 30.6 tons of tobacco, thereby evading excise duties in the amount of approximately 3.2 million KM.

The accused legal entity was used solely for the purpose of committing the criminal offense, as under the laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is not possible for individuals to sell tobacco in the specified condition and quantities. 

The illegal cutting of tobacco using appropriate machinery was carried out in the Tuzla region. 

During the operation in this case, police officers seized a large quantity of tobacco and processing machinery.

The accused are charged with the criminal offenses of organized crime (Article 250 of the Criminal Code of BiH) and illegal trafficking of excise products (Article 210a of the Criminal Code of BiH).

The prosecution will prove the allegations of the indictment by calling approximately 30 witnesses and expert witnesses and by submitting several hundred pieces of evidence.