Mektic: Croatian media fabricated story about the SIPA report, intelligence director should respond

At a press conference earlier today, BH Security minister, Dragan Mektic, invited Croatian Intelligence director, Daniel Markic, to explain where they obtained the information published yesterday in Croatian 'Vecernji List' about BiH being 'a nest of extremists'.

- We all together have to work on prevention, mitigation and processing of all forms of extremism and anything that may relate to terrorism, Mektic said.

He explained that the article of Vecernji list cited 'SIPA in its dramatic report confirmed allegations of the Croatian intelligence agency (SOA) that BiH is a Wahhabi nest...'

Mektic denied that there is any such report of SIPA.

- SIPA did not write any report of the kind, or with such headline. Whoever invented that, Vecernji List or Croatian intelligence, that is their problem, they should sit down and discuss it. I think it is wrong to spread information in that way, Mektic said.

He further emphasized that BiH and Croatia are partners in the joint battle against terrorism and extremism, and it would be only right to exchange that kind of information. Mektic also said that those topics were discussed earlier in Sarajevo with the colleagues from Croatia but nobody mentioned that report at the time.

- The story about the SIPA report is fabricated, Mektic added.

Minister Mektic also said that it is just wrong for the Croatian media to publish this kind of articles before the upcoming winter holidays and season, asking what would happened if BiH wrote such things about Croatia before their summer tourist season.

He also spoke about big court cases such as Pandora and Milbauer that the Prosecutor's Office is working on, which have inflicted substantial financial damage of several billion KM upon BiH. He invited the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH to deal with the situation in BH judiciary with more zeal.

- We have judges who left the country having committed crimes, we have judges who are tried before the court for various criminal acts, we have prosecutors in custody, Mektic said.