SIPA

Early this morning (08/10/2015), Police officials of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) have started operations codenamed "Coral" and "Tango" that have been carried out in the wider area of Sarajevo.

11 persons were apprehended in the operation "Coral" due to the grounds for suspicion of having committed criminal offense under Article 342 of the Criminal Code of FBiH "Organized Crime", in conjunction with criminal offenses of tax evasion, jeopardizing security, preventing an official in the performance of official duty, damaging others' property, grand larceny and organizing resistance, while the prime suspect is connected to inducement to prostitution. The individuals identified by the following initials were apprehended: AČ (1974), AH (1977), MP (1971), VA (1965), JK (1977), SB (1963), JS (1962), ES (1987), DI (1985), AS (1978) and HM (1977). Facilities at 10 locations were searched, in order to discover and temporary forfeit objects which can serve as evidence in further proceedings.

The mentioned individuals are suspected of managing and handling most of the assets of the "Holiday Sarajevo HTD Sarajevo" in bankruptcy, in the period from July 2014 to June 2015, with the aim of obtaining illegal profit through legal entity "Holiday Resort Ltd. Sarajevo", in such a way that they organized business activities of the Hotel, controlled revenues and expenditures, and performed other forms of control over the operation of the hotel. For this purpose, they utilized services of persons loyal to them, such as IT professionals, who illegally installed them software programs and specific applications by means of which they concealed the actual data on earned income. In this way, they avoid payment of tax liabilities in excess of several hundred thousand KM. Members of organized crime group have used various forms of extortions, threats, intimidation, physical attacks and other forms of pressure aimed at the personal and property security of an interim bankruptcy trustee and the employees in the legal entity "Holiday Sarajevo HTD Sarajevo" in bankruptcy, and their immediate family members, and in this way provoked fear and mistrust in the police and judicial authorities.

In the operation "Tango" five individuals identified by the initials SS (1969), KE (1974), AK (1985), ELJ (1982) and SZ (1988) were apprehended due to grounds for suspicion of having committed criminal offense of inducement to prostitution. These individuals are suspected of having participated in organizing and managing of sexual services, in such a way that they made contacts with customers and mediated in arranging the provision of sexual services. They are suspected of transported persons who provided sexual services to the designated places, and then came to pick them up. They charged 25% of the agreed amount for these services.

These activities were carried out on the orders of the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo and the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office, and the activities are the result of months of investigation.

When working on the case codenamed "Coral", SIPA members achieved close cooperation with members of the Tax Administration of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and today's activities were carried out in collaboration with members of the Ministry of Interior of the Sarajevo Canton.

The apprehended persons will be brought to the SIPA premises for criminal investigation. Thereafter, the persons, along with the Report on the Grounds for Suspicion, will be handed over to the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor’s Office for further proceedings.