SARAJEVO, Sept 9 (Hina) - The chief of the Bosnian Croat-Muslim entity's intelligence service FOSS, has openly asked Bosnian politicians, the international community and the public to support his efforts to continue combating
organised crime, corruption and terrorism.
SARAJEVO, Sept 9 (Hina) - The chief of the Bosnian Croat-Muslim
entity's intelligence service FOSS, has openly asked Bosnian
politicians, the international community and the public to support
his efforts to continue combating organised crime, corruption and
terrorism. #L#
Munir Alibabic on Sunday forwarded an open letter to the Bosnian
media asserting that the Federation's intelligence service at
whose helm he was, was exposed to the political pressure exerted by
parties engaged in the current pre-election campaign.
The FOSS head last week forwarded to the judicial bodies the
classified information about an ongoing investigation in the
activities of former senior political officials who are believed to
have embezzled the funds, raised during the war for the country's
defence.
For the first time since the war, the question has officially been
raised about the use of the huge financial funds donated mainly by
the Islamic countries to the political leadership in Sarajevo in
the 1990s for the defence of the country.
At the time, exclusively the leadership of the (Muslim) Party of
Democratic Action (SDA) controlled the funds, while the bodies of
authority such as the country's parliament had never received any
report on the amount of the donations and purposes for which they
were really spent.
The information produced by the FOSS to the judiciary, mentions
names of 14 public figures such as a former federal premier, Edhem
Bicakcic, and a federal deputy defence minister, Hasan Cengic. The
intelligence service's report claims that they together with
another 300 people made up a network of organised crime.
Although the report did not explicitly mention Haris Silajdzic,
this war-time high-ranking official of the SDA and currently the
leader of the Party for Bosnia-Herzegovina who is standing the
presidential election as a Bosniak (Muslim) representative was
among the first to respond to the information.
Silajdzic, recently connected with a scandal about a $20-million
loan which Pakistan granted to Bosnia in 1992 for the arms purchase
and about which there was no official documentation, accused the
FOSS head of trying to "isolate Bosniaks and render them enemy of
Europe and America," and thus prevent Sarajevo's bids to join
European integration processes.
Alibabic refuted accusations of his anti-Bosniak aspirations and
called on Silajdzic to look at the ledger cards of the persons cited
in the report as he thus could see that they had misused the
donations for their personal profit.
Alibabic added that not only Bosniaks but also Croats and Serbs were
involved in the organised crime network.
At the end of this open letter, he raises the question how come that
the classified information had been published in the public.
Alibabic assumes that this was either theft or abuse of the official
document, which might lead to additional troubles and help
suspects, who are thus warned, to flee the country.
(hina) ms