Prosecutor's Office of BiH summons Dodik for questioning over villa in Dedinje: If he fails to appear on April 2, new warrants will follow

The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has sent a new summons for the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, Istraga.ba has learned. The new summons for questioning is part of the investigation into the "Villa in Dedinje" case. According to the summons, Dodik is expected to appear at the Prosecutor's Office of BiH on Wednesday, April 2.

In this case, Milorad Dodik is suspected of the criminal offense of money laundering in connection with the criminal offenses of receiving gifts and other benefits and abuse of position. The President of RS was questioned in this case in March 2022, but an indictment cannot be filed against him until he is questioned on all circumstances that the Prosecutor's Office of BiH attributes to him.

We remind you that Dodik did not respond to the Prosecutor's Office of BiH's summonses related to the criminal offense of attack on the constitutional order, for which a central warrant was issued for him, and proceedings are underway to issue an international warrant. Given that Dodik's defense cites Article 3 of the Interpol Statute, which states that any activity or intervention in matters or cases having a political, religious, racial or ethnic character is strictly forbidden, the 'Villa' case, if Interpol does not approve a warrant for the "coup d'état" case, could be used to issue a new international warrant.

In this criminal case, Bosnia and Herzegovina requested international legal assistance from Serbia, but to date, the authorities of that country have not provided the requested documents.

We remind you that Milorad Dodik bought the villa in Dedinje in Belgrade in 2007. Dodik signed the contract for the purchase of part of the property on May 16, 2007. The owner of the other part of the villa (was) Aleksandar Obradović, then director of ČEZ for Serbia. On the same day the property purchase agreement was signed, Dodik, together with Obradović, traveled to Gacko where an agreement was signed with the Czech energy company (ČEZ) on the formation of the joint venture "Nove elektrane Republike Srpske", i.e., the construction of the second block of the Gacko Thermal Power Plant. The deal is worth more than two and a half billion marks. Aleksandar Obradović, then director of ČEZ for Serbia, was appointed director of "Nove elektrane RS".

Eight years later, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH opened an investigation into the purchase of the villa in Dedinje. It was then revealed that Dodik had covered the property purchase with a fictitious loan of 750,000 euros taken from "Pavlović banka". Dodik took out this loan exactly one year after the ownership was registered, and the mortgage was registered two years later, in 2009.

Because of this, Dodik was questioned in March 2022 at the Prosecutor's Office of BiH.

"It is a true fact that in 2007 I concluded a loan agreement with Pavlović banka in the amount of one million and 468 thousand KM, which was converted to 750,000 euros. I used the loan funds to purchase real estate in Belgrade. The following year, 2008, the loan terms were changed, so the repayment period was extended, but the interest rate was also increased. Therefore, in 2008, a new agreement was concluded with Pavlović banka, and later, by an annex to the agreement, the repayment period was extended to 20 years. I am repaying the loan," said Milorad Dodik after being questioned at the Prosecutor's Office of BiH.

If Dodik fails to respond to the summons of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH on Wednesday, an order for his apprehension will be issued, which also opens up the possibility of issuing a new international warrant for the criminal offense of corruption.