Case on irregularities in GRAS forwarded to POSKOK

(Patria) - The Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton (KS) has made a decision to revoke previous orders not to conduct an investigation in the case initiated by criminal charges filed by the Office for Combating Corruption against those responsible for millions in losses at the Cantonal Public Utility Company GRAS from 2006 to 2016, it has been confirmed for Detektor.

The Cantonal Prosecutor's Office, as stated in the response to Detektor, on March 4th, in the oversight case, made a decision to revoke the order not to conduct an investigation in the case initiated by the criminal charges of the Office for Combating Corruption from January 10, 2022, and the case has been returned to the stage it was in before the revoked prosecutorial decision was made.

"This order by the Chief Cantonal Prosecutor was made because, upon reviewing all the facts determined by direct inspection of the case file, it was found that a comprehensive and detailed analysis was lacking in this specific case regarding the issues pointed out in the criminal charges by the Office for Combating Corruption of KS," the response states.

They explain that "by reopening this case, it has been ordered to determine the existence of elements of criminal offenses" indicated by the Office's charges. They add that the Budget Inspectorate of the Ministry of Finance of KS and the Audit Office of Institutions in FBiH have noted certain irregularities in the company's operations over the years.

"The case file was forwarded on March 6th to the Special Department of the Prosecutor's Office of the Federation of BiH for Combating Corruption, Organized and Inter-Cantonal Crime as the competent prosecutor's office for further proceedings in the case," the Prosecutor's Office states, considering that it concerns checks on the commission of criminal offenses against the economy, business, and payment system security, where the amount of damage caused by these criminal offenses exceeds 100,000 marks.

Meliha Dugalija, the Chief Cantonal Prosecutor, told the media a few days ago that a prosecutorial team had been formed in this case, and that it had been reviewed at the collegium of the Department for Economic Crime and Corruption before the order not to conduct an investigation was issued. She then announced to journalists that she would review that decision.

- That decision was not reviewed by the Chief Prosecutor, i.e., the Chief Prosecutor's Office regarding complaints, because there were no complaints in that case. However, considering what we have read in the public about all the circumstances related to this and other cases, I am in the process, within my powers as Chief Prosecutor, regardless of whether a complaint was reviewed, to inspect and analyze all aspects of the work on this case - Dugalija said at the time.

Speaking at a press conference regarding the tram accident in which one person died last month in Sarajevo, she said at the time that the investigation had been expanded, but also that it was being conducted in several directions from the perspective of general and economic crime.

The Special Department of the Federal Prosecutor's Office for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime (POSKOK) confirmed that the case had been forwarded to them, but that no decision had yet been made.