According to a press release which Hina received from John McNair, the head of the Prosecution's special department for the prevention of organised crime and corruption, the indictees are Covic, Tadic, four brothers from the Ivankovic-Lijanovic family, who are the owners of the said company, as well as Zdravko Lucic, all of them accused of white-collar crime and bribery.
The indictment alleges that in June 2000 when he was the Bosnian Federation's Finance Minister, Covic made such decisions which enabled the Lijanovic company to evade paying special tariffs on the import of food products.
The indictment also reads that Covic, the Lijanovic brothers and Lucic bribed Tadic in 2003 when he was the Constitutional Court President.
The prosecution forwarded the 14-count indictment to the Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina to confirm it.
After the State Prosecutor's Office reported that it had issued the indictment against Covic and another six persons, the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Sarajevo on Wednesday afternoon stated that it was expected of elected officials to step down from their posts in case they were suspected of criminal acts.
The OHR said that the issuing of the indictment is the start of a serious process.
It is now up to the court to decide whether it will confirm the indictment. In case of the confirmation of the indictment, Covic would no doubt consider what is in the best interest of his country and those who he is representing, the OHR said in a press release.
On Wednesday, the accused Covic did not want to comment on the indictment, adding only that he was proud of all that he had done so far and that he did not want to speculate about future events.
Mato Tadic resolutely refuted accusations about having taken bribes.
Jerko Ivankovic Lijanovic, one of the accused brothers, said he was not acquainted with the issuing of the indictment.
He added that he would not be surprised by such developments as the Lijanovic company and the political party the brothers founded had been under pressure of their political opponents and import lobbies for years.