SDP BiH: We Call on Konaković to Report Crime, Prosecutors Must Act Ex Officio

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Prime Minister of Sarajevo Canton Elmedin Konaković confirmed last night on Face TV that he has decided to leave the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and that several representatives in the Assembly of Sarajevo Canton have left the party's club.

He has not yet officially announced his resignation to the party bodies.

Konaković explained his move as his fight against a system that does not function and that harms society and the state.

"I know and responsibly claim that what they are doing is to the detriment of society, to the detriment of the state we defended. You cannot manage public property as if it were your own, extracting resources from it and hiring people. This country did not deserve that," said Konaković.

He stated that what bothered him most in the SDA was that the party defends those whom he himself caught in injustice.

The Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina welcomed the statements of Prime Minister Konaković, "because as prime minister he decided to speak publicly about the presence of crime in public companies of Sarajevo Canton." From that party, Konaković was called upon to report the crime to the competent institutions.

"We call on Prime Minister Konaković to inform the public and competent authorities of his knowledge of criminal acts by SDA cadres in public companies and to officially file criminal charges against all those he knows have acted contrary to the law, especially those who did so with political support," the SDP stated. The party further warns that "given the gravity of the publicly stated qualifications by Konaković, investigative bodies have the obligation and duty to initiate investigative actions and proceedings ex officio against those responsible."

The SDP hopes that Konaković's warnings about crime in public companies will not remain at the level of political marketing. They reminded that the prime minister announced a decisive fight against illegal water users in Sarajevo and that he would publicly release a list of tycoons and hoteliers close to the SDA who steal water in millions of amounts, but that such a list has not yet been shown to the public.