KS Prosecutor's Office took 12 years to drop investigation against Vahid Hećo

(Patria) - After 12 years of waiting, the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office has issued an order to not conduct an investigation against former Minister of Energy, Mining and Industry of the Federation of BiH, Vahid Hećo.

Hećo was reported by Transparency International in BiH (TI BIH) back in 2010 for abusing the "It's not too late for a better life" campaign, which was paid for with public funds amounting to over 233,000 KM before the 2010 elections.

The purpose of the campaign was actually to promote the Party for BiH, to which the then-minister belonged, and the information about who financed the campaign was kept secret for a long time, given that the official response from the Government and the Ministry was that it was not financed by their funds.

Hećo initially claimed that the campaign was launched "at the request of managers of certain companies that would finance the entire campaign, due to their interest in the projects." It turned out that the money came from mines within Elektroprivreda BiH, whose directors publicly denied financing this campaign during the affair.

Nothing was done on this case for five years, as it can be clearly concluded from the case number that it was formed only in 2015. Since then, suspects have been interviewed, including key figures from public enterprises in the electro-energy sector of the FBiH at the time, and finally, an order to not conduct an investigation was issued. After 12 years, the Prosecutor's Office concluded that this campaign, launched shortly before the 2010 elections, had nothing to do with the Party for BiH, but rather its goal was to promote public enterprises.

Even the then-director of RMU Breza stated that thanks to this campaign, Elektroprivreda BiH invested 30 million KM in the mine, and the Prosecutor's Office concluded in its decision that the mines' investment in this campaign was justified due to all of this. It is also added that from the Ministry's audit report, where this campaign is not mentioned anyway because the ministry did not conduct the procurement, it is concluded that there are no elements of a criminal offense in the actions of the reported Vahid Hećo, as the auditor had no objections to the financial operations.

Regarding the Prosecutor's Office's decision, it is still stated that in November 2022, the Ministry responded that it did not find an act from the then-minister Vahid Hećo from 2010 by which he officially launched the campaign, so it could not formally link him to this case. TI BIH has filed a complaint against this order with the office of the Chief Prosecutor of Sarajevo Canton, because the written correspondence from 2010, which TI BIH submitted with the criminal complaint, clearly states that Hećo launched the aforementioned campaign.

The most alarming thing about all of this is that such evidence is sought after 12 years, and that it took so long to make a prosecutorial decision in this case, TI BiH announced.