SARAJEVO, April 6 (Hina) - A transitional administration was established in Hercegovacka Bank in Mostar on Friday based on a decision by the international community's High Representative in Bosnia, resulting in an incident in which
several international representatives and Mostar residents sustained injuries.
SARAJEVO, April 6 (Hina) - A transitional administration was
established in Hercegovacka Bank in Mostar on Friday based on a
decision by the international community's High Representative in
Bosnia, resulting in an incident in which several international
representatives and Mostar residents sustained injuries.#L#
All of the bank's transactions have been frozen, to which effect
Bosnia's central bank notified all commercial banks in the
country.
A large crowd of protesters broke into the bank and launched a
pillage, injuring several people, after representatives of the
international community and the finance police of Bosnia's Croat-
Muslim federation, backed by NATO's peace-keeping Stabilisation
Force (SFOR), gained access into the Hercegovacka Bank
headquarters in the southern town of Mostar.
According to initial information, several representatives of the
international community and the finance police have been injured.
The bullies, immediately upon breaking in, started taking
documentation away and plundering the money which was in the bank,
Deputy High Representative Ralph Johnson told a news conference in
Sarajevo.
He said there was no doubt that the protests against an inspection
of the bank's business had been well organised and orchestrated.
According to the U.S. diplomat, the organisers of this violence are
people who fear the results of the inspection. We can all guess who
they are, he asserted.
Johnson said the organisers would face liability, something the
international community would see to.
He confirmed the transitional administration in Hercegovacka Bank
would operate until every suspect document was examined.
He added it was assumed there were more than 50 accounts over which
payments were made for the Croat Defence Council (HVO), the Croat
component of the federation's armed forces, without any valid
evidence as to how the huge deposits were spent.
The ultimate objective of the current action is to rehabilitate
Hercegovacka Bank so that it may resume with legal business, said
Johnson.
Early this morning, SFOR's multinational division for the
southeast sector warned it would protect the staff and buildings of
international institutions.
The destruction of the surroundings in the towns of Grude, Posusje,
Siroki Brijeg, Mostar, and Medjugorje has forced the SFOR to deploy
its units to protect the staff and buildings of international
institutions, was the only sentence of a statement the division
issued.
(hina) ha sb