Bosnia Court Sentences Federation PM to Four Years in ‘Respirators’ Case

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday sentenced the Prime Minister of Bosnia's largest entity, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Fadil Novalic, to four years in prison in a first-instance verdict over the procurement of 100 overpriced ventilators from China in 2020, at a cost to the budget of 10.5 million Bosniak marks, or just over 5 million euros.

The director of the company Srebrena malina, Fikret Hodzic, and the suspended director of the Federation's Administration for Civil Protection, Fahrudin Solak, were also found guilty on Wednesday and sentenced to five and six years respectively. Hodzic's company was also fined 100,000 euros. 

Federation deputy prime minister and minister of finance Jelka Milicevic was acquitted. 

The charges against Novalic, Solak and Hodzic included conspiring to commit various crimes related to misuse of power, receiving rewards or other benefits for influence peddling, money laundering, forging or destroying business or trade documents, forging official documents, violating obligations to maintain business or trade records, and preparing financial reports and falsifying or destroying them.

On February 23, 2021, Bosnia's top court started the trial over the procurement of a hundred respirators costing 5.4 million euros from China for the entity's healthcare system.

The purchase took place in April 2020, a day after a state of emergency was declared due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Canton of Sarajevo Prosecutor's Office, one of ten cantons in the entity, initiated an investigation after it was discovered that the procurement was conducted without a tender and through a direct agreement with a private company, F.H. Srebrena malina, which primarily trades in fruits and...