Vidović and Avdibegović on the Allegations of the BiH Prosecutor's Office: No Evidence of Money Laundering

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Vasvija Vidović, the attorney for Fadil Novalić, stated after today's hearing in the Novalić et al. case that the BiH Prosecutor's Office made many omissions regarding the indictment itself.

"I will use all the prosecutor's evidence because if their evidence were interpreted objectively, it would give a completely different result, and then we ourselves conducted very thorough investigations in this case. We heard our witnesses, we conducted numerous expert examinations, you will see, by very serious institutions and experts. The picture from the defense's standpoint is completely different from what the BiH Prosecutor's Office shows," said Vidović.

She also commented on the BiH Prosecutor's Office's request for prohibition measures for all defendants except the company Srebrena malina, which will be discussed at the next hearing on March 5.

"One gets an impression of an unnatural interest in removing the Prime Minister of the Federation, which is already a resolved matter. It is known when a proposal for measures is submitted. Detention was rejected, then measures were proposed that were in force and they were respected. It is completely unusual that, even though the court had previously decided without any new fact or circumstance occurring, measures are being sought again. But I haven't read what they propose; we will comment next time," said Vidović.

The attorney stated that the measures are being proposed even after the ventilators went through the verification process, and that they have a serious manufacturer who publicly disclosed the properties of that ventilator.

"BiH will have big problems, I believe, because American lawyers who will represent that Chinese company have already contacted us. BiH will have serious problems because something that is usable and used in many countries has been declared unusable by a state authority," added Vidović.

Mirna Avdibegović, the attorney for Fikret Hodžić, owner of the company Srebrena malina which imported the ventilators, emphasized that the courtroom is the place where all defense allegations should be presented.

"Regarding the indictment itself, we used legal remedies to point out the unfoundedness of the indictment, and regarding the defense's opening statements, these are facts we came to after reviewing the case file. There is all the evidence that the Prosecutor's Office did not include with the indictment. We came across a wealth of material that is directly exculpatory for all defendants, especially for Fikret Hodžić, and which justifies the price of the ventilator of $42,500 per unit in that period," she said.

She added that there are no elements of money laundering, no return of money to any country covered by the Prosecutor's Office's investigation.

"Just imagine, money laundering is represented by the payment of VAT according to the Prosecutor's Office's stance, and that payment was made with the prior consent of this Prosecutor's Office," added Avdibegović.

Speaking about the model of the ventilator, i.e., how the defense claims it was a technical error and that it is not the HCVE003 model but the ACM812A, Avdibegović said:

"The Prosecutor's Office has no evidence that it is a cheaper variant of the ventilator; it was an error that was pointed out during the proceedings."