According to the newspaper, a request to that effect was made by the State Prosecutor's Office department for corruption, organised and white-collar crime, which is comprised of foreign prosecutors, only a week before a decision was made to strip Covic of immunity.
The daily says that in his request of the Constitutional Court, prosecutor Mats Mattson claims that court president Mato Tadic should be exempted from proceedings and two appeals regarding Covic's immunity given that Tadic is under investigation for allegedly taking 100,000 euros in bribes to hand down verdicts in the Covic case.
The State Prosecutor's Office department for corruption, organised and white-collar crime did not state in its request who gave the bribes and under what circumstances.
The newspaper claims that the fact that this request was made only a week before the final decision on Covic's immunity was made put pressure on Constitutional Court judges and their independence from foreign prosecutors appointed by the international administration in Bosnia.
In the wake of the request, five judges voted in favour of stripping Covic of immunity while three voted against, the daily says, adding this decision was published on Friday.
Covic told the daily the decision did not affect his position and that the proceedings against him were rigged. He declared he never broke the law while performing his official duties.
Asked about the pressure on the Constitutional Court judges, Covic said he was not familiar with the foreign prosecutors' request, adding that if pressure was indeed exerted he was concerned about the independence of Bosnia's judiciary.
The chief of the State Prosecutor's Office department for corruption, organised and white-collar crime, John McNair, has recently said that Covic is under investigation for 10 cases in which he might be indicted.