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| ICTY rises indictment against former RS Prime Minster Gojko Klickovic | More than 1000 fictive companies registered in BiH | Session of the Council of Ministers | RS and Serbia officials discusses police co-operation |
| HVO Veterans Association announce another blockade of border crossings | Session of the BiH Presidency | Session of the BiH Presidency
| Paravac meets High Representative
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| Carla Del Ponte praised Croatian Cooperation with ICTY | Session of the Council of Ministers | ICTY to raise indictment against former RS Prime Minister Gojko Klickovic | Council of Ministers adopts draft Law on Education |
| World news | New Law on Primary, Secondary Education in BiH | Regional news | EU introduces sanctions for Karadzic’s supporters |
| Oslobodjenje | Ivan Vuksic organised hostage’s crisis in Grude?; Ashdown bought a house from General Jusic |
| Dnevni Avaz | Mafia trying to discredit Ashdown |
| Dnevni List | “Mostar mortar rounds – perfect homicide”; “OHR on Customs Administration work: Federation Government called to offer support to Customs Administration efforts”; “HDZ delegation talked with SDHR Gerhard Enver Schroembgens about establishment of HNC Government: Cantonal SDA Board responsible for non- establishment of HNC Government” |
| Vecernji List | “The Hague Prosecutor Carla del Ponte at meeting with Croatian Prime Minister: Karadzic must be arrested!”; “Investigation on corrupted politicians is coming to it end”; Sulejman Tihic: I am concerned about Secret Services” |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | “OHR threatened Croatia to stop trial against Petritsch”; “Most expensive cities: Mostar Livno and Siroki Brijeg” |
| Glas Srpski | Construction of apartments to the families of the killed soldiers in Brcko: Card houses; Brcko: 100 tones of coffee confiscated |
| Nezavisne Novine | Zivkovic meets Cavic: Organised crime is a joint problem; Vladan Batic: I will not speak with SDS at all; James Lyon,. ICG Head: RS police is protecting criminals; Banja Luka: Reconstruction of Ferhadija Mosque starts in September |
| Blic | Petar Djokic: Cavic’s statements on the army will cause damage to Srpska; Narco-dealers from Serbia store drugs in Srpska |
Affairs; fight against organised crime | |
| Launching of investigation against Vuksic requested
| Oslobodjenje front page, pg. 3 ‘Ivan Vuksic organised a hostage’s crisis in Grude?’, Dnevni Avaz pg. 2 ‘Launching of investigation against Vuksic requested’ – The Sarajevo Canton Prosecution Office has assessed as grounded criminal charges filled last week by the Federation Interior Ministry against the acting FOSS Director Ivan Vuksic. It consequently requested the Sarajevo Canton Court to launch an investigation against Vuksic. He is being accused of taking hostages in the course of the events related to the Hercegovacka Bank that took place in April 2001. |
| Mafia trying to discredit Ashdown | Dnevni Avaz front page, pg. 3 ‘Mafia setting up Ashdown’ – Following the Belgrade Summit and the exchange of information about KOS (former Yugoslav Military Counter-intelligence Service) as a factory of deaths and lies, a continuation has been announced of fight against the remains of this criminal organisation in RS and partly in Sarajevo. The most transparent announcer of this fight was the High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, anyway the most responsible person for the situation in BiH. This has obviously create panic amongst organised crime actors, who are in all possible ways trying to discredit the top international official. |
| Joint denial by OHR, Serbian Government
| Dnevni Avaz pg. 3 ‘False statement assigned to Zivkovic’ – Following lies published last week in the irrelevant but indicative Sarajevo weekly Slobodna Bosna, the Office of the High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, and the Cabinet of the Serbian Prime Minister, Zoran Zivkovic, on Wednesday sent a joint letter-denial to the magazine. They requested Slobodna Bosna to publish that their article entitled ‘Zivkovic asked Ashdown why he was protecting criminal’ was a pure fabrication. “The only correct fact from the article is the one that Zivkovic and Ashdown met,” read the letter signed by OHR Director of Communications Julian Braithwaite and Serbian Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Nemanja Kolesar. Nezavisne Novine, page 4, ‘False allegations from the meeting Ashdown/Zivkovic’ also reports on the issue. |
| Serbian PM, RS president to cooperate in fighting organized crime
| Oslobodjenje pg. 5 ‘ Cooperation in breaking the criminal network’, Dnevni Avaz pg. 2 ‘Future cooperation between RS, Serbia depends on results achieved in fight against crime’ – Cooperation between Serbia and the RS in combating organized crime will continue. This is what Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic and RS President Dragan Cavic said following their meeting in Belgrade on Wednesday. Regarding the arrest of Momcilo Mandic, Cavic said that the Serbian Interior Ministry had to determine whether he was guilty or not. According to Zivkovic, fighting crime is the number one priority. This requires cooperation with the RS and also with other countries. “The provisions of the Dayton Accord do not apply, this does not involve any special relations, but normal relations,” Zivkovic said. Cavic said cooperation between the Interior Ministries would be good. “I conveyed to Mr Zivkovic the official position of myself and my aides that we are absolutely ready to cooperate on this issue in any respect,” he emphasized. Regarding the arrest of businessman Momcilo Mandic, Cavic said he did not wish to speculate about the motives behind his arrest. “I hope and, naturally, I am convinced that the Serbian Interior Ministry bodies and all other Serbian institutions, within the framework of their respective jurisdiction, of course, will find an answer to this question and determine whether a founded suspicion exists,” Cavic said. Nezavisne Novine, page 3/also cover page, ‘Crime is a joint problem’; Glas srpski, page 3, ‘Together against crime’, Blic pg. 2 ‘Cooperation of polices’; Vecernje Novosti pg. 3 ‘All taboos fall’ also report on the meeting. According to the dailies, while commenting on statement by SNSD leader, Milorad Dodik (that organised crime in RS and Serbia are connected), Zivkovic said that statements by any politician in public, that were not given to any institution in charge prior to their publication, cannot be of any assistance to the investigation. He further announced his meeting with Adnan Terzic, Chairperson to BiH COM, during the course of next week. |
| VL: “Investigation on corrupted politicians is coming to its end” | Vecernji List (front page, “Investigation on corrupted politicians is coming to its end” and page 3, “Who has got rich during last ten years?”, by Zdenko Jurilj) carries that in cooperation with Financial, Customs and Tax Inspections the Federation Ministry of Interior is about to finish the plan on rooting out of corruption and crime on the ground of which the persons, who got rich illegally, would be arrested. VL says that this year, according to the OHR’s instruction, a new method of sanctioning of criminal activities should be implemented in the Federation of BiH and the RS. VL says that huge documentation has been already prepared against some officials from the Federation of BiH Government, which will soon result in criminal charges. According to VL the names of a few Ministers and Managers of Public Companies are on the list. VL says that international organizations in BiH should support this action. |
| OHR denies RS Helsinki Committee | Nezavisne Novine, page 4, ‘OHR denies accusations that it fails to fight organised crime’ – Office of the High Representative yesterday denied claims of the Head of the RS Helsinki Committee, Branko Todorovic, saying that HiRep, Paddy Ashdown, “is just talking about organised crime, but is failing to do anything about it.” Sonja Pastuovic, OHR Regional Spokesperson, stated that such accusations by Todorovic are not grounded, stressing that “he obviously is not informed of what OHR and HiRep have been doing for the past year in the fight against organised crime.” |
| EU ban against Bjelica, Mandic became valid | Nezavisne Novine, page 3/also cover page, ‘Mandic and Bjelica banned from entering all European states’ – NN learnt at OHR that at 15:00 hrs yesterday, the EU ban against Momcilo Mandic and Milovan Bjelica from entering any European was put into effect. This ban was imposed following the recommendation of the OHR. According to NN source, “in Brussels, OHR officials insisted that the problem of organised crime and protection of war crime suspects covers the entire region of Balkan states. EU officials agreed that the entry to EU states should be banned not only to some BiH citizens, but also to the citizens of Croatia and Serbia.” |
| Serbian MOI checking bank accounts of Mandic
| Nezavisne Novine, page 3, ‘Serbian MoI examining bank accounts of Momcilo Mandic’ – NN learnt at RS Bureau in Belgrade that the inspectors of the Serbian MoI confiscated a part of the documentation of the RS Bureau in Belgrade covering the period when Momcilo Mandic was the head of the Bureau. Members of the Serbian police have also examined part of the files of the former RS Government’s Bureau in Belgrade, which refer to the period between 1993 and 1994. The head of the Bureau at that time was the recently arrested owner of the Man-co company, Momcilo Mandic. (Blic pg. 4) |
| ICG on SDS, PDP participation in fight against organised crime | Nezavisne Novine, page 5, ‘RS police is protecting criminals’ – In a short interview to NN, James Lyon, Head of ICG in Serbia and Montenegro, claims that SDS and PDP have not committed to fight against organised crime. According to him, the return to power of wartime options is an issue to be dealt by the nation, not the authority, because the people keep electing criminals to assume positions on power. He also expresses his view that money and personal interests block the confrontation with criminal structures in RS. On Mandic arrest, ICG Head says that we may wonder why the RS authorities did not arrest him, but the Serbian authorities did instead. According to him, the conclusion can be reached that individuals within RS authority used to co-operate with Mandic. He further claims that the ruling parties have been imported together with criminal groups, without going into details of this claim. He also adds that there has never been any co-operation between the Interior Ministries of RS and Serbia, stressing that RS MOI used to protect some criminals in RS running from Serbia and accordingly obstructed the work of the Serbian Interior Ministry. He then expresses hope that the progress in relation between these two will take place following yesterday’s meeting between Serbian PM, Zivkovic, and RS President, Cavic. He did not want to comment on the allegations that Milorad Lukovic Legija is in possession of BiH passport issued in RS. In regard to the establishment of special prosecutor’s office and court, Lyon says that such thing is necessary, expressing scepticism as to whether how successful such departments would be, bearing in mind political interference in RS. |
War crimes | |
| Klickovic case
| Glas Srpski, page 3, ‘Evidence against Klickovic’; Nezavisne Novine, page 4, ‘Court has enough evidence to try Klickovic’ – Both dailies report on yesterday’s statement by Refik Hodzic, Head of ICTY Outreach Programme in BIH, who said that the Cantonal Court in Bihac may press charges against former RS Prime Minister, Gojko Klickovic, because the Hague Tribunal, upon evidence delivered, assessed there is sufficient evidence to proceed with this case. However, he was not informed as to whether ICTY Chief Prosecutor did indeed sign the indictment against Klickovic. According to NN inset, Brane Pecanac, Head of BiH InterPol Office, stated that BiH IbterPol is searching for Gojko Klickovic for his economic crime. |
| Del Ponte meets top Croatian officials | Vecernji List (front “Karadzic must be arrested” and page 13 “The Hague fugitives hiding as protected witnesses”, by Mladenka Saric) reports that the Chief ICTY Prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, yesterday met with a top Croatian delegation led by the Croatian PM, Ivica Racan. Following a two-hour meeting, del Ponte said she was convinced in Racan’s seriousness that General Ante Gotovina, an ICTY fugitive, would be arrested. “There are important steps that need to be taken, and that is that Ratko Mladic be arrested in Serbia, Radovan Karadzic in BiH, and Gotovina in Croatia”, says del Ponte. Slobodna Dalmacija, page 3, by Tomislav Klauski, “Gotovina arrest the only pending issue in relations with The Hague Tribunal”, Dnevni List, page 17, by HINA, “Some pending issues still need solving”, Jutarnji List, front and page 3, by Boris Vlasic, “Del Ponte: New indictments arriving”, Vjesnik, front and page 2, “Del Ponte: Croatia must arrest Gotovina, Serbia must arrest Mladic and BiH must arrest Karadzic” and “Government wants to arrest Rajic’s aides including the political ones”, Nezavisne Novine, page 14, ‘Arrests of Karadzic, Mladic and Gotovina are our main tasks’, Sarajevo dailies also report on the Del Ponte’s visit. |
| Oric case | Glas Srpski, page 5, ‘We offer evidence to The Hague’ – Zoran Milosavljevic, President of the Bratunac Veterans Association, yesterday stated that this organisation is ready to offer evidence based on testimonies of those who survived crimes in the regional villages, proving that Naser Oric, war-time Srebrenica commander, committed crimes against Serb population in the region of Podrinje. He further expressed astonishment over the statement given by Florence Hartmann, Spokesperson of the ICTY Chief Prosecutor, who said that Oric will not be tried for massacres of Serb civilians in Bratunac villages, owing to the fact that the Hague investigators failed to compile evidence on civil victims. He then listed the locations, where Oric unit committed crimes, starting with: crimes at village of Fakovici on 5th October 1992, when 46 Serb civilians were murdered; crimes at the village of Bjelovac on 14 December 1992, when 109 Serb civilians were murdered; crimes in the village of Kravice on Orthodox Easter 1993, when 152 Serb civilians were murdered. Milosavljevic further warned the public and ICTY investigators that apart from Naser Oric, his close associates should be tried for the murder of 1300 Serb civilians. |
Political developments | |
| BiH Presidency session
| Oslobodjenje pg. 5 ‘Paravac avoided journalists’, Dnevni Avaz pg. 2 ‘Procedure launched for the appointment of the new BiH Central bank’s Steering Board’ – The BiH Presidency held a session today, chaired by Borislav Paravac for the first time. It adopted the financial report on the work of the Central Bank. The proceedings were launched for the appointment of the bank’s management board members. The Presidency also discussed the work of the state agency for down-payment insurance. The Presidency endorsed a decision on the marking of the first anniversary of BiH’s admission to the Council of Europe, Paravac told journalists after the meeting. The presented journalists, however, loudly protested Paravac’s non-readiness to answer their questions. Nezavisne Novine, page 5, ‘Initiative for the change of the Law on BiH Central Bank’, Vecernji List page 2, by D. Jazvic, “Organizational Board for reception of the Pope appointed” and Dnevni List (front and page 5, by D.L., “Organizational Board for reception of Pope John Paul II appointed”) also report on the meeting. Dnevni Avaz pg. 2 ‘Ashdown and Hays visit Paravac: coming period important for implementation of reforms’ – The Chairman of the BiH Presidency Borislav Paravac received in Sarajevo on Wednesday the High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, and PDHR Donald Hays, said a press release issued by the Presidency. Congratulating Paravac his appointment in “a time which is important for BiH,” Ashdown emphasized that the coming period was significant in sense of the comprehensive reforms implementation in the country. |
| Petar Djokic on Paravc appointment | SPRS President Petar Djokic said that the appointment of Borislav Paravac as the Serb member of the BiH Presidency damages both the RS and BiH. He stressed that the SPRS does not support the appointment of Paravac and described it as a slap on the face of many intellectuals in the RS who could have been nominated to the post of Serb member of the BiH Presidency. He also condemned latest actions of RS President Dragan Cavic placing all responsibility for the “spying affair” on RS Army officers and added that the harshness Cavic expressed in his accusations would only cause damage to the army and civil republic’s institutions. Djokic urged relevant RS officials to publicly say who was being spied by the 410th Intelligence Centre and said that this would also show for which political structures this sector of the RS Army gathered information. (Blic pg. 7 ‘Harmful statements on the RS Army’) |
| VL: Interview with Sulejman Tihic
| Vecernji List (front “I am concerned over secret services” and page 6 “I am concerned – MoI and FOSS are without control”, by Eldina Medunjanin) carries an interview with the Bosniak member of BiH Presidency, Sulejman Tihic. Talking about the Sarovic resignation, Tihic says the real problem is in the system i.e. deficiencies in it stressing that the system will allow another affair in the future. “High Representative should have removed those deficiencies”, says Tihic. When reminded that the HR has passed a few decisions in the area, Tihic says the HR only announced some decisions and set long deadlines reminding that the BiH Presidency received a letter from the NATO Secretary General last year which stated that BiH must have Ministry of Defence. “We do not have such a ministry even after the recent affairs, but there is only an announcement of possibility of its establishment. That’s what I told Robertson in an unofficial conversation when he told me he was disappointed that more was not achieved. I told him they were at fault too and that their help was insufficient”, says Tihic. |
| HDZ’s Colak met with SDHR Schroembgens | Dnevni List (front and page 3, by Miso Relota) carries that acting HDZ President Barisa Colak and Vice President of the HDZ Cantonal Board of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton (HNC) Miroslav Coric met with Senior Deputy High Representative Gerhard Enver Schroembgens in the premises of the OHR Sarajevo yesterday. They discussed the issue of forming of the HNC Government, which has not been formed yet. Colak said that only people from HDZ attended this meeting and Colak supposes that this will is just the first meeting. He added that OHR representatives said that they will have talks with SDA representatives. Colak concludes that after this meeting with SDA representatives, some sort of a joint meeting can be expected. Coric said that he supposes that OHR representatives will talk with SDA representatives and that the HNC Government will be formed after these talks. Coric also aid: “At the end of the meeting an interesting question was posed to us, saying who is in our opinion responsible for the obstruction with regard to non-forming of the HNC Government, the SDA top or a lower level. In my opinion, it is the Cantonal SDA Board.” |
| Mostar-based IC representatives on the town’s reorganization, HNC Government appointment | Dnevni List (page 14, by D. Kozina, “Appointment of Commission for Drafting of City of Mostar Statute welcomed”) and Slobodna Dalmacija (page 19, by Miroslav Landeka, “SDA carries all blame for blockade of authority in Canton” and last page “OSCE concerned about segregation of students”) covered yesterday’s press conference of international organizations seated in Mostar. OHR Spokesperson Avis Benes stated: “OHR welcomes appointment of the Commission for re-structuring of Mostar by the Mostar City Council.” According to Benes, Deputy High Representative Jean-Pierre Bercot emphasized while addressing the City councilors on behalf of OHR, during its work the Commission should be open for various suggestions of public and public discussion in general and he also said that Mostar cannot afford to ignore constructive voices of its citizens. OSCE Spokesperson Richard Medic also welcomed the appointment of the aforementioned Commission. Medic said that OSCE expresses its concern over the fact that segregation of students is still present in the schools on the territory of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton. SD also says that Avis Benes gave a statement to SD with regard to the fact that the HNC Government has not been formed yet. Benes stated: “OHR believes that the situation is very concerning and we have to say that especially SDA showed to be very non-constructive in this process.” Asked as to what OHR will do with regard to this issue, Benes said that those who obstruct the establishment of the HNC authority have to be aware of consequences that their attitude will result in. |
| Serbian’s Batic on SDS | Nezavisne Novine, page 3, ‘Batic: I will not speak with SDS’ – Commenting on accusations of SDS of “interfering into RS internal affairs and lecturing it”, Vladan Batic, Serbian Justice Minister, yesterday stated that the problem of the Serb Democratic Party and the RS authorities is that they are offended with the truth. Batic further said that he would speak with SDS and RS authorities after they disclose and solve all affairs and arrest war crime suspects. |
| Mikerevic’s visit to US | Glas Srpski, page 3, ‘Investments without risk’ – Dragan Mikerevic, RS Prime Minister, yesterday in Washington met with the officials of the private owned Corporation for Overseas Institutions. According to PR issued by RS Government Bureau for Public Affairs, the meeting discussed the possible support to strategic partners from America, interested in placing investment within the territory of the RS. |
| BiH Council of Ministers session
| Dnevni List (page 4, by Onasa, “License for takeover of 35 million dollars to Central Bank”) and Vecernji List (page 5, by E. Medunjanin, “Primary education will last 9 years”) carry that the BiH Council of Ministers held a session yesterday. During the session, the CoM adopted the Plan of activities of the BiH Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees for the period until the Summit on Western Balkan that will take place on June 21. VL says that it was also decided that a new State Law on Primary and Secondary education will be applied as of the next school year. According to this law, the primary education will last 9 instead of 8 years. Also, the application of the law will bring the final de-politicization to the educational system. Sarajevo dailies also reported on the session. |
Economic affairs | |
| OHR says significant progress achieved in work of FBiH Customs Administration
| Oslobodjenje pg. 5 ‘Recognition to Zelimir Rebac’, Dnevni Avaz ‘OHR, CAFAO support Director Zelimir Rebac’ – The OHR and CAFAO have sent a letter to FBiH Prime Minister Ahmet Hadzipasic assessing that a significant progress had been achieved in the past year in the work of the Federation Customs Administration, according to OHR Spokesman Kevin Sullivan. Sullivan told FENA that the Administration’s Director, Zelimir Rebac, deserved tributes for these results. Oslobodjenje pg. 2 In Focus column by Senka Kurtovic ‘Rebac’ – Kurtovic reminds that OHR and CAFAO have requested the top state and Federation officials to fully and publicly support Federation Customs Administration Director Zelimir Rebac. “This would be, it is concluded, a clear message to the criminal structures that the state and the entity will not (any more) stand behind them,” wrote Kurtovic. Dnevni List (front and page 7, by Valerija Coric, “Federation Government called on to give support to Customs Administration’s efforts”) reports that the PDHR Donald Hays and the Head of CAFAO in BiH, Allan Jensen, sent a letter to the Federation Prime Minister, BiH Council of Ministers and Federation Finance Minister, requesting them to give a full support to the work of the Federation Customs Administration and its Director Zelimir Rebac because it was Rebac and Sector for Anti-frauds that were responsible for unveiling of few customs related frauds. DL says the letter was labeled by the Federation TV as an “open siding with Customs Administration in case of criminal charges against a member of BiH Presidency Dragan Covic”. Dnevni List also contacted Mr. Rebac who did not want to comment on the charges against Covic until the charges, if so, turn out to be grounded. (Vecernji List, page 2, by M. Sutalo, “’Tied hands’ of current authority”) |
| OHR’s Clarke says Brcko District supports the Bulldozer project
| Dnevni Avaz, p 8, ‘There is no conflict between the Brcko District and OHR Sarajevo’ Oslobodjenje, p 6, ‘Brcko District and OHR are not in conflict’, Dnevni List, p 6, ‘Clarke: Brcko supports the Bulldozer project’, – Brcko District supports the “Bulldozer project” and its representatives will participate in Friday’s meeting in Banja Luka with representatives of FBiH and RS Governments on its implementation into practice, Brcko District Supervisor Henry Clarke told FENA in Sarajevo yesterday where he arrived for regular consultations with the High Representative. Clarke underlined two important issues in the tax policy, firstly that taxes need to be fairly collected and distributed and secondly that efforts on creating a single economic space need to be made. The “Bulldozer Commission” recommended that the best way for collecting sales tax is at the place of production and at the place of import. “There is no conflict between me and the OHR head office in Sarajevo on this fundamental principle nor is there any conflict between the Mayor and the Brcko District Assembly with the Bulldozer Commission”, Clarke said. If there was such a conflict with the Bulldozer Commission then the Brcko District Assembly would not have passed five out of six proposals of the Commission on Monday, Clarke said. The sixth proposal specifies that the tax revenue distribution process needs to defined in agreement between entities and the Brcko District and the only thing that happened at the District Assembly session is that the Assembly decided not to pass a final decision on this proposal until it becomes clear what type of a mechanism would be negotiated. Therefore this will be discussed in Banja Luka on Friday because everybody needs to do this in the same way, Clarke said. |
| OHR welcomes adoption of Bulldozer Committee reforms | Dnevni List (page 6, unsigned, “Turn recommendations of Bulldozer Committee into laws”) carries that the OHR Banja Luka spokesperson, Sonja Pastuovic, stated yesterday that the High Representative for BiH, Paddy Ashdown, welcomes the fact that bodies of authority at the state and entity levels as well as those from the Brcko District responded in a constructive manner and on time to the issue of the adoption of the Bulldozer Committee’s recommendations. She added there were another two reforms that the Federation Government had to adopt. |
| Federation Tax Administration reveals fictitious and unavailable companies
| Dnevni List (front and page 3, by Valerija Coric, “609 unavailable and 118 fictitious companies registered in Federation of BiH”) reports that the Federation Tax Administration yesterday presented the “Register of fictitious and unavailable companies in Federation of BiH”, when it was revealed that there are in total 727 such companies in the Federation. Out of the number, 609 are unavailable whilst 118 are fictitious. Sarajevo dailies also reported on the issue |
| Nezavisne Novine editorial on Milica Bisic | Nezavisne Novine editorial by Mladen Grahovac, ‘Tax evasion’ – The author starts the editorial with listing many audits, replacement of Sarovic, information on connections between organised crime between Serbia and RS, and furthermore to the announced audits at the RS Tax Administration and Finance Ministry, culminating with the info on departure and escape of RS Eliot Nes to Serbia. The author wants to underline and point at the basic political and qualified inconsistency regarding the re-programming of the tax duties. He is particularly critical of Milica Bisic and her practise of going to private meeting with tax evaders to arrange possible tax debt re-programming. |
| FBiH Government says military equipment factories controlled by PIFs, Slovenians | Dnevni Avaz pg. 9, mentioned on the front page ‘FBiH Government sent letter to OHR: Military equipment factories controlled by PIFs, Slovenians’ – The BiH Federation Government has sent to OHR requested information on the ownership structure of the factories belonging to the military industry. According to the information, the Privatisation Investment Funds are controlling 49 percent of the properties of the special-purpose industry in the Federation unlike the RS where all military industry capacities are under full control of the civil state structures meaning the RS Defence Ministry. |
| Cavic meets Dixon to discuss tax reforms | European Union’s Indirect Taxation Commission Head Joly Dixon and RS President Dragan Cavic discussed in Banja Luka on Wednesday possible ways for organising the steering board for indirect taxation and the BiH customs administration. Cavic praised work done by the Indirect Taxation Commission so far and expressed support for efficient and rational solutions. The RS President also supported reform in the areas of customs, excise and tax collection, revenue distribution and implementation of regulations in this area stressing that rights and interests of entities need to be preserved. (Blic pg. 7 ‘To preserve rights and interests of entities’) |
| Who will be new RS Tax Administration director? | At tomorrow’s session the R Government should appoint a new director of the RS Tax Administration. Although there are no official information who that person might be, unofficially it could be heard that the most serious candidate for that post is current director of Banja Luka’s Tax Administration Miodrag Djuric. (Blic pg. 7) |
Other issues | |
| SD: “OHR warned Croatia to cancel trials of Petritsch”
| Regarding previous reports about a former judge of Mostar Municipal Court (I), Nenad Gvozdic, who was removed from his office by a former High Representative for BiH, Wolfgang Petritsch, filing a lawsuit against Petritsch with the Municipal Court in Dubrovnik (Croatia), today’s Slobodna Dalmacija (front and page 17, by Darko Juka) says the case ruffled plenty of feathers between BiH and Croatian diplomacy and according to the author, there has been a direct interference into the work of the (Croatian) judiciary. Namely, SD claims to be in possession (there is a facsimile of the letter) of a letter that the Croatian Ambassador to BiH, Josip Vrbosic, sent to the Croatian Assistant Foreign Minister, Nenad Prelog, and Croatian Justice Minister, Ingrid Anticevic, which reads that the Croatian Embassy in Sarajevo was approached by the Head of OHR Legal Department, Ian Campbell, on September 12, 2002, when Campbell “warned about the incident that took place at the Municipal Court in Dubrovnik regarding the violation of immunity of the former High Representative for BiH, Ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch”. The letter goes on to say that Campbell warned that Croatia violated UN conventions since Petritsch has diplomatic immunity. Furthermore, the letter reads that Campbell requested the Embassy to inform the Croatian Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Justice and that it was agreed that High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, will not for the time being send a protest note to the Croatian Embassy. As far as the case with the court is concerned, SD says the case was closed back then when the court dismissed Gvozdic’s charges but after Gvozdic’s lawyer appealed, the case has been reopened and the final verdict about the charges should be passed by end of this month. |
| US foresees IC should withdraw from the Balkans in 2010 | Vecernji List (front and page 2, by Dejan Jazvic, “Final withdrawal of institutions of IC in 2010”) reports that analysts of the US State Department prepared a special report on situation in the Southeast Europe, the report which foresees a significant withdrawal of institutions of the IC in the year 2010. The fundamental assumption of the plan is that the countries in the region reach a satisfactory level of stability that should enable them join the EU and NATO. Analysts believe that in order to achieve the stability, there should be a good co-operation between the countries in the region and proper distribution of roles between the big powers in Southeast Europe. In that context, VL says the plan foresees strengthening of the EU’s role in the region and the US maintaining its geo-strategic presence. When it comes to BiH, the report warns of the problems that hinder BiH integrating into European associations, the problems being late legal and economic reforms connected to political and ethnic tensions. |
| Reconstruction of Ferhadija mosque to start in September | Nezavisne Novine, page 4, ‘Reconstruction of Ferhadija mosque commences in September’ – The Head of the Soul of Europe in Banja Luka and Anglican Priest, David Rieves, yesterday announced the beginning of the reconstruction of Ferhadija mosque in Banja Luka for September. Rieves is the Head of the Fund in charge of collecting and raising resources necessary for the construction works. The assessment is that the amount of KM 12 million is necessary for the reconstruction of mosque. |
| Brcko | Glas Srpski, cover page story, ‘Houses of cards’ – GS reports on the bad construction of the apartments, intended for the families of the killed soldiers, that are built in the settlement of Ilica (Brcko). According to families of the killed soldiers, the contractor is doing its job rather badly, because of which the 4-flat buildings, still uncompleted, are falling apart. Glas Srpski, cover page story, ‘100 tones of coffee confiscated’ – Brcko Customs Administration yesterday seized four trucks of the Banjaluka company “Mineko”, carrying around 100 tones of coffee, on which the customs fee was not paid. |