Case 'Kasa': Can the state recover what was stolen from it?

By: Amra Varatanović

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The arrest of the most famous Sarajevo restaurateurs, who run several establishments at the most attractive locations in Sarajevo (SCC and BBI Center), has an almost identical background to the case of the arrests of Adnan Mrkva, Amel Ćapin, Ermin Špilja, Adis Biberović, and Arif Malići for tax evasion amounting to 3.3 million BAM. This concerns the well-known chain of ćevabdžinicas Mrkva, whose owners did not report actual turnover and damaged the budget of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and extra-budgetary funds for millions of BAM in the period from the beginning of 2012 to the end of 2015.

Until the conclusion of the court proceedings and a final verdict, the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo, at the proposal of the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office, decided to freeze the assets of these individuals suspected of being acquired through criminal acts, including three business premises in Sarajevo, a residential building and yard, an apartment, and four cars. The trial in this case is still ongoing.

The five recently arrested restaurateurs, owners of Metropolis, Vatra, Restaurant Montana, Kibe-Mahala, and Luka, fully confessed to committing the criminal acts. They agreed to cooperate with the Prosecutor's Office, which did not request detention for the suspects but rather restrictive measures. These measures include a ban on managing business operations, a ban on meeting with suspects, witnesses, or waiters, and a ban on approaching all establishments.
 
All these restaurateurs, using a special software program rented from the company „Inspirit“, falsified their turnover, reporting a lower turnover to the Tax Administration than the actual one. It has not yet been determined by how much the budget was damaged, but it is already clear that this is a multi-million BAM evasion, the money from which did not end up in the state treasury. The timeframe in which the suspects committed these criminal acts is also unknown. It is only known that the restaurateurs obtained property benefits through a so-called „black cash register“ that they did not report to the state. Whether the money „stolen from the state“ was used only for personal gain or for other activities possibly linked to certain political circles will be shown by the investigation and court proceedings.   
 
At this stage of the investigation, the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office has not requested the freezing of assets or bank accounts of the suspects. Whether it will do so after the indictment is confirmed cannot be stated for now. A punishment without the state recovering what was stolen from it is no punishment at all.
 
It is concerning that an inspection of such establishments did not occur earlier. Does this mean that the owners had some form of political protection?
 
And while millions of BAM of unreported money were being stashed away in „black funds,“ it is a devastating fact that the owners cheated the state even on their own salaries, which they reported as no more than 2,000 BAM. For example, with such a salary, the vehicle fleet of one of the arrested owners and their family members is worth several hundred thousand BAM?! 

For now, the state is the biggest loser. What the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office was criticized for, while Dalida Burzić was at its helm, was an insufficient fight against organized crime and corruption.

Investigative authorities could soon knock on the doors of Sarajevo hotels as well.