WESTENDORP'S OFFICE EXPECTS URGENT ACTION ON TAX EMBEZZLEMENT ( Editorial: --> 7797 )

( Editorial: --> 7797 ) SARAJEVO, Nov 3 (Hina) - The Office of the international High Representative (OHR) to Bosnia-Herzegovina said on Monday it expected relevant Bosnian authorities to take necessary steps regarding the findings of a report on the misappropriation of budget funds and tax embezzlement. OHR spokesman Simon Haselock told a news conference in Sarajevo that such measures should be taken within the next two weeks or the Office of the High Representative would initiate criminal proceedings if necessary. He described responses by Bosnian officials following the publication of the report by the European Commission's Customs and Fiscal Assistance Office (CAFAO) as unfounded. The Bosnian officials accused in the CAFAO report of diverting DM 23 million to finance illegal republican institutions, rejected almost all the allegations. The head of the State Commodity Reserves Directorate, Mirsad Kurtovic, said that the results of the CAFAO investigation were superficial, stressing that there was evidence that all funds earned by that institution had been directed into the federal budget. The co-chairman of the Council of Ministers, Haris Silajdzic, named in the report as a person who had directly approved the purchase and sale of various goods, told Sarajevo television that behind the CAFAO report were "open intentions to abolish the institutions leading towards the reintegration of Bosnia-Herzegovina." Silajdzic described the moves by High Representative Carlos Westendorp as a continuation of politics aimed at apportioning the blame on all the three parties in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Foreign Trade Minister Hasan Muratovic was much more reserved, saying that the problem of abolishing the State Commodity Reserves Directorate "can be solved in an appropriate way" and that it "is not necessary to use such a method." (hina) vm jn 031831 MET nov 97