prijava
SARAJEVO, February 24 (FENA) - Vasvija Vidović, an attorney of the Prime Minister of the Federation of BiH Fadil Novalić said during her introductory remarks at the main trial in the Fadil Novalić and others case that, contrary to the Prosecution's claims about the criminal plan and its implementation, the defense will prove any action taken by the prime minister was legal and aimed at preventing or mitigating the consequences of the pandemic.
After today's hearing, Vidović told reporters that she first spoke about the formal shortcomings of the indictment, which, as she stated, in this case, are of such a nature that they are rarely seen in criminal proceedings, especially in the state court, with many omissions in terms of formalities.
She added that all of the prosecutor's evidence would be used in the continuation of the trial, "because their evidence if interpreted objectively, would give a completely different result."
"We ourselves have conducted very thorough investigations in this criminal case, we have heard our witnesses, we have conducted numerous expert examinations, by very serious institutions. The picture we see is completely different from the one shown by the Prosecution," Vidović stated.
She also commented on the announcement that the Prosecution would seek injunction measures for the accused during the evidentiary proceedings, saying that "there is an impression of overt interest in removing the Prime Minister of the Federation of BiH from his duty".
She added that she believes that BiH will have big problems because her team has already been contacted by "American lawyers who will represent the Chinese company, the ventilators producer".
"These most serious criminal offenses laid against the accused Novalić (money laundering, receiving gifts or other forms of trade in influence) are not only not supported by evidence, but are not actually described in the indictment. The prosecution alleges that the prime minister committed the crime of receiving gifts or other forms of trading in influence, and does not state from whom, when, where and in what amount he requested or received the gifts. The same applies to the alleged acquisition of illicit property, the amount of which, according to the indictment, "the prosecution intends to determine only at the main trial," Vidović said.
The prosecution, she added, essentially claims that Prime Minister Novalić misused the circumstance of declaring a pandemic, devised and implemented a criminal plan with the aim of gaining illegal property gain to a group of persons, which he gathered for that purpose alone.
She announced that the defense would prove that the Prosecution's repeated claim that only health organizations could have procured the materials, means and equipment, in the given situation, in fact, does not stand.
"We will prove that the procurement of ventilators was not carried out contrary to the Public Procurement Act. We will prove that in the situation as it was, there was nothing unusual in the fact that a private company 'Srebrena Malina' appeared as a contracting party, whose previous business activities did not include procurement of ventilators. This was actually something that was happening worldwide," said Vidović.
Regarding the Prosecution's claim that “the purchased and then delivered medical equipment - 100 ACM812A ventilators do not have the minimum necessary essential characteristics for adequate treatment of patients with moderate and severe clinical state of Covid infection, which is why its use in intensive care units is not recommended", she said that the defense will prove that this type of ventilator was bought and used by various countries, including neighboring Serbia.
"We will show that the Prosecution in this case, without a legal basis, using external helpers, in a completely inappropriate way, behind the curtains, interfered in the procedures of further dealing with the ventilators, after their arrival in Sarajevo, although they were never officially seized by the court or the prosecution in accordance with the law.
We will show that the prosecution has been generating hysteria about the inadequacy and dangerous properties of these ventilators all this time, thus implementing its PR plan," stated, among other things, attorney Vidović.
The main trial in the ventilators procurement case, in which the first indictee is the Prime Minister of the Federation of BiH, Fadil Novalić, began today in the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The case also includes charges against the suspended Director of the FBiH Civil Protection Administration, Fahrudin Solak, the owner of the agricultural company 'Srebrena malina' Fikret Hodžić and the FBiH Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Jelka Milićević.
(FENA) S. R.
