Gibraltar Case: Indictment Read to Prlić, Bakula and Kulenović

The trial of Stipe Prlić, Zoran Bakula and Neven Kulenović began this morning at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the reading of the indictment for organized crime, economic crime and corruption, writes the BiH news agency Patria.

The trial continues on 2 October. The BiH Prosecutor's Office previously announced 15 witnesses in this case. Prosecutor Miroslav Janjić stated that he will prove the acts with which they are charged.

At a hearing held on 13 August, the trio pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed on 21 May 2015 the indictment charging the accused Stipe Prlić and Zoran Bakula with the criminal offense of abuse of office or authority under Article 383, paragraph 3, in conjunction with paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the criminal offense of receiving gifts and other forms of benefit under Article 380, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the accused Neven Kulenović with the criminal offense of giving gifts and other forms of benefit under Article 381, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The indictment states that the accused Stipe Prlić, as Director – President of the Management Board, and Zoran Bakula, as a member of the Management Board of JP Hrvatske telekomunikacije d.o.o. Mostar, in the public procurement procedure for the development of an „Integrated Strategy for Media Planning and Leasing by Target Groups of JP HT d.o.o. Mostar, and media planning and leasing by target groups of JP HT d.o.o. Mostar, and media planning and leasing in BiH“ selected the most favorable bidder by choosing the legal entity SV-RSA d.o.o. Sarajevo, owned by the accused Neven Kulenović, as the most favorable bidder, even though the said legal entity was ranked third according to the recommendation of the public procurement commission, thereby acting contrary to the provisions of Article 35, paragraph 2 of the Law on Public Procurement of BiH and Article 14, paragraphs 1 and 4 of the Instructions on the Application of the Law on Public Procurement of BiH, for which actions the accused Neven Kulenović, as owner and deputy director of the legal entity SV-RSA d.o.o. Sarajevo, gave a gift as previously agreed, through successive payments to the account of Zoran Bakula in the amount of 386,256.86 KM and to the account of Stipe Prlić in the amount of 331,513.18 KM, which gift the accused Zoran Bakula and Stipe Prlić received in such a way that it was paid to them from the account of the legal entity „3 Media Limited“ registered in Gibraltar, in which the accused Neven Kulenović is the attorney with general and special power of attorney.

This is the first indictment filed in the Gibraltar case since October 2014, when owners of marketing agencies in BiH were arrested in the SIPA operation of the same name.