Kerim Gosić, Branimir Butigan and Company Buba Company Convicted of Abuse of Position and Money Laundering

(Patria) - The Cantonal Court in Sarajevo has rendered a first-instance verdict, finding Kerim Gosić, Branimir Butigan, and the company Buba Company - a limited liability company from Neum, guilty.

Gosić was sentenced to a unified prison term of two years and eight months for the criminal offenses of abuse of position or authority and forgery of documents, while Branimir Butigan was sentenced to two years and ten months in prison for abuse of position and money laundering.

The company Buba Company was fined 10,000 KM.

The defendants are obligated, upon the finality of the verdict, to compensate the company Alsuwaidi Investment for damages amounting to 129,987 KM.

The verdict is significant due to the conviction of a legal entity for money laundering as a standalone offense, thereby contributing to the implementation of the recommendations of the MONEYVAL committee regarding the prosecution of this criminal offense.

Kerim Gosić is charged with having, on November 23, 2022, in Sarajevo, in his capacity as an authorized person, i.e., as the proxy of the director of the company Alsuwaidi Investment - for which he could only undertake certain actions in accordance with the given power of attorney, exceeded his authority and agreed with the defendant Branimir Butigan that the company Buba Company would, for the needs of Alsuwaidi Investment, prepare a Study for the improvement of business operations and positioning of the company on the BiH market for the period 2023-2028.

In order to convince bank employees of the alleged legality of his actions and authority, Gosić, with a forged signature of the director, requested them to transfer 129,987 KM from the account of Alsuwaidi Investment to the transaction account of Buba Company, headed by the defendant Butigan, for the purpose of preparing the Study.

Thereafter, the defendant Butigan, in order to conceal the true origin of the money, issued several payment orders to his own transaction account, specifically 90,000 KM, while the remaining part of 39,987 KM from the payment by Alsuwaidi Investment remained in the account of Buba Company, which is charged with disposing of illegally obtained property gain.