Employees of the Sarajevo Canton Forestry Administration warn of millions in crime within the company

A group of employees of the Sarajevo Canton Forestry Administration has sent a letter to the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Sarajevo Canton, stating that former Director of the Forestry Administration Samir Fazlić and the current Minister of Economy of Sarajevo Canton Muharem Šabić are responsible for multi-million damage to forests in this canton.

The same letter, which was shown to the Patria agency for review, was also sent to the Government of Sarajevo Canton and the Assembly.

“Former Director of the Sarajevo Canton Forestry Administration Samir Fazlić and the Minister of Economy of Sarajevo Canton Muharem Šabić have taken a series of illegal measures that have contributed to forest theft,” the letter states, adding that some employees of the Forestry Administration attempted to stop these illegal actions, after which they were subjected to psychological and physical pressure, and some of these employees are facing termination, while some have already been fired.

The letter reminds that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Sarajevo Canton arrested 18 people in May this year in the Sarajevo Canton and Herzegovina-Neretva Canton due to suspicion of organizing and carrying out illegal logging of state and private forests, and that there are indications that some of the arrested individuals coordinated criminal activities precisely with Fazlić.

“In order to conceal evidence of who caused the damage and who is responsible for it, former director Fazlić and Minister Šabić attempted to transfer foresters from Hadžići to Ilijaš and vice versa in 2016. This would prevent foresters from protecting the forest, as most forest thefts occur during the night. In this way, a forester from Ilijaš would not be able to effectively intervene in Hadžići and vice versa,” the letter states, among other things.

The letter also states that Fazlić took revenge on dissenters from this public company by giving them negative evaluations, which can be grounds for dismissal, and among those who received negative evaluations is, as stated, “the best forester in Sarajevo Canton Senad Musić, who filed the largest number of criminal complaints”.

As one of the pressures on employees who do not want to be involved in the alleged crime of forest logging, the signatories of the letter mention demotion from higher to lower positions in the company, as well as the non-issuance of annual leave permits.

The signatories of this letter are asking the Assembly of Sarajevo Canton to form a commission to evaluate the work of the Ministry of Economy of Sarajevo Canton as well as the work of the Forestry Administration of this canton.

“This is not just about logging forests, but also about converting forest land into construction land,” the letter states, reports NAP.

Foto Patria