What is Čaušević's role in the Pandora case: Suspect, witness or collaborator of the BiH Prosecutor's Office?

Kemal Čaušević, former director of the Indirect Taxation Authority (UIO) of BiH, who was arrested in the Pandora operation in June 2014 as a suspect for multi-million criminal activities, spent several hours on Tuesday at the BiH Prosecutor's Office. The BiH Prosecutor's Office previously told Patria that the Pandora case is ongoing.

Interestingly, Čaušević's status itself is shrouded in secrecy, as he went from being a suspect to a witness, and then to a collaborator of the State Prosecutor's Office. No one wants to discuss the details of his time at the BiH Prosecutor's Office.

Speaking about the Pandora operation from this temporal distance, Security Minister Dragan Mektić questioned how this case can be concluded when the arrested and suspected individuals, mostly UIO BiH employees, have returned to work, and there are indications they have continued engaging in criminal activities. This is also claimed by numerous UIO BiH employees who had previously warned about the criminal activities of the former Administration.

Čaušević was arrested along with 53 other individuals, including 30 members of the UIO and customs terminals. They were arrested for corrupt criminal offenses of organized crime, customs and tax evasion, money laundering, and abuse of office or authority related to the import of textile and other goods into BiH.

In the part of Čaušević's statement that was published in the media, numerous political officials from the top of HDZ BiH—Dragan Čović, Vjekoslav Bevanda, Dragan Vrankić—and from the top of SNSD—Milorad Dodik, Nikola Špirić—and SDA were mentioned in connection with these illegalities.

The relationship between Čaušević and Čović was particularly interesting, and the president of HDZ BiH himself told journalists that they had a "casual relationship."

Thus, in his statement, Čaušević stated that at the insistence of Dragan Čović, the UIO purchased the Sokol building in Mostar in 2009 for a price of 2 million KM, although an expert appraiser estimated the building's value at around 900,000 KM. Previously, the building was privatized from Sokol by Čović's friends, while Čović was the director of this former Mostar giant, at very favorable prices, and then sold to the Administration for slightly more than a million KM above its actual value.

Čaušević revealed that Nikola Špirić had a key role in the illegal employment of people in the UIO, for whom he personally intervened. Given that Špirić was the Minister of Finance of BiH, he was also on the Management Board of the UIO BiH.

The name of Milorad Dodik is linked to the promotion of Zdravko Cvjetinović to head of customs, as well as to the appointment of Dubravko Prstojević as head of the Department for Control of Large Taxpayers. Although Čaušević did not do this at the time, the new director Miro Džakula (HDZ BiH) did, so Cvjetinović now freely walks around the UIO, and those who warned about criminal activities in the Administration fear it has simply continued. However, their expectation is that the BiH Prosecutor's Office will still bring this case to justice.

2.5 years have passed since the Pandora operation, and at the end of December 2016, an indictment was filed against Anes Sadiković and 12 other natural and legal persons, and as announced by the BiH Prosecutor's Office at the time, conditions were met for prosecuting the other suspects from the Pandora operation.

Čaušević was released on September 12, 2014, after previously agreeing to cooperate with the BiH Prosecutor's Office to uncover other names in the case linked to tax and customs evasion. According to information held by the Patria agency, Čaušević used his time at liberty to secure documentation on criminal activities in the UIO BiH, and it is possible that he was heard as a witness on these circumstances and will submit material documentation as evidence for the claims in his statement.

In accordance with the agreement reached with the BiH Prosecutor's Office, Čaušević could still get off with only a suspended sentence and a fine.