Dodik after testimony at the BiH Prosecutor's Office: Let them file an indictment, then we go to court

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - SNSD leader and BiH Presidency member Milorad Dodik was again at the BiH Prosecutor's Office today, where he was questioned as a suspect regarding the purchase of a house on Dedinje in Belgrade and a loan from Pavlović Bank. He stayed at the Prosecutor's Office for about an hour and a half, and upon leaving he addressed the journalists.

"Let them file an indictment, then we go to court. They always somehow start this story a few months before the elections. This is a politically motivated process," Dodik said.

He said that evidence for the alleged incrimination was presented to the prosecutor and that there is no contract from 2007 because the bank is obliged to keep documentation for five years after the loan is repaid.

"That loan was repaid with a new loan from 2008. So the bank's obligation to keep documents and archives has passed. In any case, I have the original contract in my documentation, which I submitted, presented and gave in a certified copy, as the law requires, and therefore I believe that this type of incrimination, which has been ongoing from the beginning and someone is trying to prove, has been removed. Of course, due to the investigation, I will not show it to you now, but when the time comes that it can be shown, I am very interested in showing it. The other story is the alleged seal. At that time, I was an employee of the RS Government and they only certified documents stating that I was an employee there and what my salary was, because that was required for the loan itself and nothing more. The Government was neither a guarantor, nor a surety, nor does it repay the loan, nor does it have any obligation. Some tried to make a story out of that," Dodik said.

He claims that everything was presented to the BiH Prosecutor's Office and that this is a politically motivated process that has been going on for too long and involves no violation of the law.

"I said that this Court and this Prosecutor's Office do not have a constitutional position under the BiH Constitution and cannot exist. They are therefore neither legitimate nor legal. I said that publicly, but I undertook to come if they have cases concerning me. I will always show up and that is why I am here. Today I gave a statement, it is not a problem even if I am a suspect. What they stated in the record last time was all answered precisely; if they want to expand it, let them expand it. I have nothing against appearing again, I am always ready to come and give a statement, and they can decide what they want. This was initiated a few months before the elections, and after Escobar's demands to search through everything at any cost and try to incriminate me," Dodik said.

He adds that corruption is a matter of perception and that he does not claim that there are no elements of corrupt activities in society, but in his case there are none.

He repeated to journalists that before the war he had seven apartments in Belgrade, and that the income of his company just before the war was 33 million KM.

"I have had a private company since 1988, doing big business. My income in 1989 and 1990, just before the war, my private company had 31 to 33 million marks. That is like having 500 million marks today. Before the war, I had seven apartments in Belgrade. I sold two two or three years ago to settle obligations for this property and I helped my daughter a bit to repay her apartment, and that's all. There is evidence, there are papers and everything. Either charge me so we can go to court, or say there are no elements. This kind of harassment makes no sense," Dodik said.