Indictment Confirmed Against Founder of American University in BiH Denis Prcić

(Patria) - The Cantonal Court in Tuzla has confirmed the indictment against the president and founder of the American University in BiH (AU BiH), Denis Prcić (48) from Tuzla, due to reasonable suspicion that he committed the extended criminal offense of abuse of position and authority in conjunction with the criminal offense of fraud in business operations, announced the Tuzla Canton Prosecutor's Office.

"There is reasonable suspicion that Prcić, in the period from the beginning of March to November 15, 2020, as president and founder of AU BiH, exceeded his official authority and assumed the competence of the AU BiH Management Board (MB AU BiH), which, according to the provisions of the Law on Higher Education of Tuzla Canton and the provisions of the AU BiH Rules, is exclusively authorized to determine the amount of participation, tuition fees, and study costs in all three study cycles.

Thus, Prcić, although the AU BiH Management Board did not adopt a decision on increasing tuition fees and other study costs, and despite the fact that participation in accreditation costs was not covered by study contracts, unilaterally increased the costs of education for students.

On March 1, 2020, he sent an email to all students demanding that they participate in the costs of re-accreditation of AU BiH with the American institution, the Council for Accreditation of Independent Schools and Colleges (ACICS), with which AU BiH already had accreditation until the end of 2020.

In the email, he asked students to make a payment of a fee for re-accreditation costs to the AU BiH account in the amount of 1,500 KM each, and stated that students who did not wish to do so would not receive a diploma recognized in the United States of America (USA), but only a diploma recognized in BiH, and he also provided students with an invoice for the stated amount for these costs.

After the students of the 2016-2017 generation completed their study programs, he ordered that their diplomas be produced, which were signed by the deans and the rector, and then ordered an employee to move the diplomas and other documentation from AU BiH to her private house. He also ordered the employee to hand over the diplomas only to students who had made the payment of 1,500 KM each for the mentioned costs, so students were provided with annexes to the contracts to pay the stated amount for technology costs of conducting teaching processes, in order to conceal the true purpose of the payment of funds.

Thus, at least 43 students paid the requested amount (total of 64,500 KM) after which they received their diplomas, while in the same period he attempted to charge the identical amount from 32 students in the same manner, which these students did not pay, which is why they did not receive their diplomas for completing the first cycle of studies, which would have resulted in an additional 52,500 KM in requested payments.

After the mentioned payments were made, at the end of October 2020, he sent a letter to the American institution ACICS stating that he was withdrawing from re-accreditation, and after this withdrawal, the collection from students who had completed their studies continued, while the delivery of diplomas to students who had not paid the mentioned fee was still refused.

In this way, AU BiH obtained property benefit in the amount of 64,500 KM, while causing property damage to 43 students who paid the amount of 1,500 KM each, and attempted to obtain property benefit for AU BiH in the amount of 52,500 KM.

In the second count of the indictment, Prcić is charged with having, in the same period, in the same manner, collected the mentioned amount from one student from Pakistan for re-accreditation costs. In further communication with the student's father, he continued to mislead him that his son would receive a diploma, and that after paying the tuition for postgraduate studies, his son would continue his education at AU BiH, and sent him an invoice via email for an amount exceeding 8,000 euros, although he was aware and knew that AU BiH would not organize classes for postgraduate studies because he, as the founder, would withdraw from the re-accreditation of AU BiH in the USA. After the father paid the requested amount, no classes were organized in any study program in the subsequent period, and Prcić did not ensure that the student was awarded a diploma for the first cycle of studies, nor did he refund the paid funds for postgraduate tuition, thus damaging the student and his father for an amount of approximately 18,000 KM, while obtaining illegal property benefit for AU BiH in the same amount.

More than 1,800 different pieces of evidence were submitted to the court along with the indictment. During the investigation, a large number of witnesses were heard, extensive material documentation was obtained and analyzed, an economic and financial expert assessment was conducted, and numerous pieces of evidence were obtained through international legal assistance in the United States of America.

Also, during the investigation, the competent court, at the proposal of the Prosecutor's Office, conducted a procedure for judicial preservation of evidence. This concerns material documentation that was temporarily seized from AU BiH during the conducted searches, including, among other things, student diplomas and other material documentation necessary for the verification of diplomas, in order to ensure the legality of the evidence used in the criminal proceedings, and on the other hand, to return the original documentation to AU BiH so that students can continue to exercise their rights related to studying and issuing diplomas. By judicially preserving the evidence, the Prosecutor's Office was ensured that copies faithful to the original documents can be used as evidence in the further course of the criminal proceedings. At this hearing, the court issued a decision to return the documentation and original student diplomas, signed by the deans and the rector, to AU BiH so that they can be awarded to the persons to whom they pertain," the explanation states.