SARAJEVO, Aug 4 (Hina) - A recent sale of 50,000 guns manufactured in a Serbian factory to the US company Century Arms, with the Bosnian Federation's Defence Ministry acting as mediator, appears to represent a classic example of
customs fraud and yet another corruption scandal to rock Bosnia-Herzegovina.
SARAJEVO, Aug 4 (Hina) - A recent sale of 50,000 guns manufactured
in a Serbian factory to the US company Century Arms, with the
Bosnian Federation's Defence Ministry acting as mediator, appears
to represent a classic example of customs fraud and yet another
corruption scandal to rock Bosnia-Herzegovina. #L#
The Sarajevo-based Dnevni Avaz daily says on Sunday that
representatives of the international community in Bosnia,
including the anti-corruption team of the Office of the High
Representative, are closely investigating the export venture in
which Bosnian Federation Deputy Defence Minister Ferid Buljubasic
is directly implicated.
According to available information, the guns manufactured in
Kragujevac were the standard weaponry used by the former Yugoslav
army (JNA). They passed through Bosnia so that the payment of steep
customs duties could be avoided.
Bosnia pays only a five percent duty on its export to the United
States as against Serbia's 65 percent.
Contentious in the entire matter is a certificate issued by the
Bosnian Federation Defence Ministry and bearing Buljubasic's
signature, which states the guns are Bosnian property and had been
stored on Bosnian territory for more than five years.
This certificate is a condition necessary to export weapons to the
US. It was issued to the Sarajevo-based company Intrade, which was
in charge of the technical part of the venture.
Defence Minister Mijo Anic's office issued a statement saying the
guns had never been owned by Bosnia, and that the venture had been
arranged by Buljubasic on a secret visit to Belgrade last year.
The deputy defence minister at first claimed the guns had been
stored in Bosnia since before the war. Later he said they had been
given to Bosnia as part of succession to the ex-Yugoslavia.
Anic has still not received any information to that effect, or to
the question of what happened to US$2.5 million which the US company
Century Army paid for 17,500 delivered guns.
A ship with the guns sailed into Newark last week, but there were no
Century Arms representatives to collect them.
US customs expect that before collecting the shipment, the
company's people will explain and prove its origin.
The company is under special control by US authorities as it is
known as a dealer with weaponry coming from crisis areas.
According to international officials in Bosnia, the guns bought for
US$50 would have run up a price ten times higher on the US market.
While the FBI and customs are investigating Century Arms, the
Bosnian probe is aimed at the mastermind behind the export
venture.
Dnevni Avaz says these are probably former Bosnian Federation
Defence Ministry officials who still have trusty associates in the
ministry to do their "dirty work".
(hina) ha