Constitutional Court of BiH confirms legality and justification of the Prosecutor's Office's actions in the 'Pero' case

(Patria) - The Constitutional Court of BiH, by Decision No. AP 3100/21 of 3 November 2021, partly dismissed as unfounded and partly rejected as inadmissible the appeal of the PU Center for Education VITA PLUS Cazin, in connection with the case of this Prosecutor's Office T01 0 KTOVK 0033523 21 against legal entities PU VITA PLUS Cazin and the International University Cazin and their responsible persons Admira Hadžipašić, Goran Lalović, Zuhra Hadžipašić, Senad Haurdić, Asmir Nuhić and others, due to the existence of reasonable suspicion that they committed the criminal offense of Organized Crime under Article 342 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of BiH ('Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH' No. 36/03, 37/03, 21/04, 69/04, 18/05, 42/10, 42/11, 59/14 and 46/16 – hereinafter: CC F BiH), in connection with the criminal offenses of Abuse of Office or Official Authority under Article 383 of the CC F BiH, Forgery of Documents under Article 373 of the CC F BiH, Tax Evasion under Article 273 of the CC F BiH, and Money Laundering under Article 272 of the CC F BiH.

In this decision, the Constitutional Court, when assessing the merits of the appeal against the ban on the operation of PU Center for Education VITA PLUS Cazin, established the following: 'In particular, the Constitutional Court notes that the Cantonal Court emphasized that when imposing the prohibition measure, it took into account a large number of pieces of evidence, including the testimonies of heard witnesses and the findings of the competent Ministry which carried out expert supervision, and that all evidence submitted by the Prosecutor's Office along with the proposal for imposing the prohibition measure unequivocally indicates the existence of reasonable suspicion regarding the commission of the aforementioned criminal offenses. Moreover, the Cantonal Court took into account that the circumstances of the specific case include special circumstances that justify the fear of repetition or completion of the attempted criminal offense for which a prison sentence of 3 years or more may be imposed, with the evidence indicating this (the content of the public competition for the employment of professors and professional associates published on the appellant's Facebook page) and the consequences that need to be prevented by the said measure. Therefore, in the opinion of the Constitutional Court, the contested decisions were made in accordance with the law, and in this context, the interference with the appellant's property was lawful.'

With this decision, the Constitutional Court confirmed the legality and justification of the Prosecutor's Office's actions so far in the case code-named 'Pero', in which the investigation is nearing its final phase in the form of financial expert examinations and other remaining evidentiary actions. (usn1.net)