The BH TV 1 television network reported that Maktouf had been in prison for months now on charges of money laundering, tax evasion and customs fraud.
The indictment says that as a member of the El Mujaheddin unit, which operated as part of the Muslim-led Bosnian Army, he was responsible for the unlawful imprisonment of five Croats from Travnik, one of whom was killed.
Dragan Popovic was arrested along with four other prominent Croats in 1993 and taken to a Mujaheddin camp in the village of Mehurici near Travnik. Popovic was killed there, while the others were later released.
The indictment, signed by Prosecutor John McNair, is based on evidence partly used in the trial of former Bosnian Army Chief of Staff General Enver Hadzihasanovic and Brigadier Amir Kubura, in whose area of responsibility El Mujaheddin operated.
After the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, Maktouf set up a firm called Palma, doing business in central Bosnia. Subsequent checks revealed that he exported and sold technical goods by forging customs and tax documents. He was also said to be involved in drug trafficking.
The indictment against Maktouf is the first war crimes case taken on by the recently established Office of the Prosecutor. A special war crimes department is to be set up within this office early next year and it will gradually take over investigations initiated or already completed by the office of the prosecutor of the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.