GREAT AMOUNT OF DOCUMENTATION TAKEN FROM HERCEGOVACKA BANK

MOSTAR, April 6 (Hina) - The director-general of the Hercegovacka Banka, Ivica Karlovic, on Friday evening said that a large amount of documentation was taken from the bank's central offices in Mostar and from its branches throughout the Federation of Bosnia- Herzegovina during today's action of the international forces. The international community's High Representative in Bosnia- Herzegovina decided to establish the transitional administration over the Hercegovacka bank thus taking control over this private bank, believed by foreign diplomats to be the financial backbone of Croat self-rule which the Croat National Assembly (led by the HDZ BiH political party) set up in some Bosnian areas. The High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch's decision was described by the bank's spokesman as the suspension of the legal system. "Under the bank law, the Agency for Banking of the (Croat-Moslem) Federation is the only institution authorised to introduce and take penal measures against any bank," the spokesman Milan Sutalo said claiming that the Hercegovacka Bank did not breach law. The bank's director Karlovic said that it was "sheer lie" that the bank had the secret account of the HDZ BiH with 54 million German marks. "We are the bank with the 20 million-worth capital, 24 share- holders - private companies from the Federation, and the (Roman Catholic) Church holds 2.5 percent," Karlovic explained the ownership structure. Karlovic maintains that the purpose of Friday's action was to intimidate share-holders, clients and savers. One of share-holders, Ante Ljubic, announced they would file a complaint against those who took today's operation and file a claim for damages in relation to the latest developments in relation to the Bank. On Friday armed people in stocking masks raided the bank's premises in Mostar and ordered the personnel to leave the administration building, Sutalo added. (hina) ms