Indictment confirmed in the case of Jerko Ivanković-Lijanović and others

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed, on January 18, 2016, the indictment charging Jerko Ivanković Lijanović, Slavo Ivanković Lijanović, Jozo Ivanković Lijanović, Milorad Bahilj, Jozo Slišković, Željko Mikulić and others, reports the BiH news agency Patria.

Ivanković-Lijanović Jerko for committing the criminal offense of organized crime in connection with the criminal offense of money laundering;

Ivanković-Lijanović Slavo for committing the criminal offense of organized crime, in connection with the criminal offense of tax evasion in connection with the criminal offense of money laundering;

Ivanković-Lijanović Jozo for committing the criminal offense of organized crime in connection with the criminal offense of money laundering;

Bahilj Milorad for committing the criminal offense of organized crime in connection with the criminal offense of non-payment of taxes, under point 10 of the indictment, the criminal offense of tax evasion, and under point 5 of the indictment, the criminal offense of forgery or destruction of business or trade books or documents;

Slišković Jozo for committing the criminal offense of organized crime in connection with the criminal offense of non-payment of taxes, under point 10 of the indictment, the criminal offense of tax evasion, and under point 8 of the indictment, the criminal offense of forgery or destruction of business or trade books or documents;

Mikulić Željko for committing the criminal offense of organized crime in connection with the criminal offense of tax evasion, under point 14 of the indictment, the criminal offense of money laundering;

Kvesić Draženko for committing the criminal offense of organized crime in connection with the criminal offense of tax evasion and under point 14 of the indictment, the criminal offense of money laundering;

Šakota Mirjana for committing the criminal offense of organized crime in connection with the criminal offense of tax evasion and in connection with the criminal offense of money laundering;

Galić Mirko for committing the criminal offense of organized crime in connection with the criminal offense of tax evasion and under point 5 of the indictment, the criminal offense of forgery or destruction of business or trade books or documents;

Čolak Miroslav for committing the criminal offense of organized crime in connection with the criminal offense of money laundering;

Ivanković Stipo for committing the criminal offense of organized crime in connection with the criminal offense of money laundering;

Legal entity „Lijanovići“ d.o.o. Široki Brijeg for committing the criminal offense of organized crime in connection with the criminal offense of tax evasion;

Legal entity „Mi-MO“ d.o.o. Mostar for committing the criminal offense of organized crime in connection with the criminal offense of non-payment of taxes;

Legal entity „Farmer“ d.o.o. Široki Brijeg for committing the criminal offense of organized crime in connection with the criminal offense of non-payment of taxes;

Legal entity „Farmko“  d.o.o. Široki Brijeg for committing the criminal offense of organized crime in connection with the prolonged criminal offense of tax evasion, the criminal offense of non-payment of taxes;

Legal entity „Optimum“ d.o.o. Široki Brijeg for committing the criminal offense of organized crime in connection with the criminal offense of tax evasion.

The aforementioned individuals are accused of having, as an organized criminal group, jointly committed a criminal offense prescribed by the laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina, by evading the payment of duties prescribed by the tax legislation of BiH by not providing legal data or providing false data about their acquired taxable income, and the amount of tax evaded exceeds 200,000.00 KM, and by transferring and alienating property, closing down business entities and in other ways preventing the collection of reported taxes prescribed by the tax legislation of BiH, whereby the amount of the obligation evaded exceeds 200,000.00 KM. The indictment further states that the accused received, held, disposed of, and used money they knew was obtained by committing a criminal offense in business operations, thereby endangering the common economic space of BiH with harmful consequences for the activities and financing of BiH institutions.

On the other hand, the accused legal entities „Lijanovići“ d.o.o. Široki Brijeg, „Mi-MO“ d.o.o. Mostar. „ Farmer“d.o.o. Široki Brijeg, „Farmko“ d.o.o. Široki Brijeg,  „Optimum“ d.o.o. Široki Brijeg  and „Kora-Fin“ d.o.o. Široki Brijeg  are charged with having disposed of illegal property benefits for the period from 2007 to 2012, which were realized in the name of, for the account of, and for the benefit of the accused Jerko Ivanković-Lijanović, Slavo Ivanković-Lijanović and Jozo Ivanković-Lijanović and others.

The accused are charged with, in the period from 2007 to 2012, acting as a connected group of natural and legal persons (companies), committing tax evasion and non-payment of taxes by constantly establishing new companies with minimal share capital, often only 2000 KM, transferring raw materials, products, and equipment to these companies and continuing operations, while leaving multi-million tax debts on the previous companies.

In this way, which for several years represented a modus operandi of illegal business for the purpose of tax evasion, the accused committed tax evasion, non-payment of taxes, and money laundering, thereby acquiring illegal property benefits in the amount of approximately 13.5 million KM, for which they damaged the state of BiH, i.e., all citizens.

Given that the case will seek the confiscation of illegal property benefits in the full amount and their return to the state of BiH, the prosecutor in charge will, after the financial investigation is completed, request that the accused be prevented from disposing of their immovable and movable property, in order to ensure the possibility of collection for the benefit of the state at the end of the court proceedings.

This case is one of the most extensive in the history of the Economic Crime Department, on which prosecutor Ismet Šuškić, head of this department, has been working for a long time with his associates, investigators, and police experts for financial crime from SIPA.

The Prosecutor's Office of BiH will prove the guilt and responsibility of the accused by calling about 40 witnesses and expert witnesses, and along with the indictment, extensive evidence material with more than 1000 material pieces of evidence has been attached. The indictment will be forwarded to the Court of BiH, it is stated in the announcement.