Prosecutor's Office of BiH files indictment against Cikotić for harmful contracts on sale of surplus weapons

(Patria) - The Prosecutor's Office of BiH has filed an indictment against Selmo Cikotić (SDA), Istraga.ba learns. The Minister of Security of BiH is accused of abusing his position and authority during his mandate as Minister of Defence of BiH.

The indictment was submitted to the Court of BiH on Wednesday, we have been unofficially confirmed. However, we did not receive official confirmation due to the holiday, writes Istraga.ba.

According to Istraga's information, Selmo Cikotić, in his capacity as Minister of Defence of BiH, in the period from 2006 to 2010, signed harmful contracts for the sale of surplus weapons and ammunition to the Croatian company “Scout”. During the investigation, police and judicial institutions suspected that the budget of BiH was damaged by about six million marks in this way. Cikotić, as media previously reported, signed decisions on the sale of surplus weapons of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina without the consent of the Presidency of BiH.

The State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) in March last year seized documentation from the Ministry of Defence related to the sale of surplus weapons and ammunition.

“Acting on the order of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, police officers of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) yesterday (10.3.2020) temporarily seized documentation from the Ministry of Defence of BiH, which relates to the sale and delivery of surplus weapons and ammunition to a company from the Republic of Croatia. These activities are the result of conducting an investigation by order of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, which relates to the existence of grounds for suspicion that in the period from 22.3.2010 to 22.10.2010, without the consent of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, two decisions were made and four annexes to four contracts on the sale of non-perspective weapons and ammunition, concluded in 2003 and 2004 between the entity ministries of defence and a company from the Republic of Croatia, were concluded.

The suspect changed the essential elements of the basic contracts, by reducing the quantities of weapons and ammunition that are harder to sell on the market, while simultaneously increasing the quantities of weapons and mostly ammunition that were easier for the buyer to sell on the market, in order to meet the demands of the company from the Republic of Croatia. These actions damaged the budget of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the amount of 6,297,580.25 KM”, SIPA stated in March last year.

In addition to the company Scout, Cikotić, during his mandate in the Ministry of Defence of BiH, had several suspicious dealings with companies that were actually owned by Slobodan Tešić, a Serbian arms dealer on the US blacklist who, at the time of business, was also on the United Nations blacklist. The intermediary in these dealings was Dragan Kapetina, then director of Tešić's companies, and today director of the Republika Srpska Directorate for Trade in Weapons and Military Equipment.

BiH security agencies at the time documented meetings of leaders of BiH institutions. In addition to Cikotić, the former chief state prosecutor, the late Milorad Barašin, also collaborated with Slobodan Tešić. Due to this affair, Barašin was removed from the position of chief prosecutor of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH. Selmo Cikotić saw out the end of his mandate, only to be reappointed as minister in the Council of Ministers of BiH in July last year, following the resignation of Fahrudin Radončić, but now to the position of Minister of Security of BiH, as a cadre of the SDA.