SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Bosnia’s Security Minister Selmo Cikotic has been charged with abuse of office and corruption over a sale of old weapons and military equipment during a previous stint as defence minister, the state prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Friday.
Cikotic’s actions on behalf of a Croatian company had deprived the state of 9.7 million Bosnian marka ($5.5 million) when Cikotic was serving as defence minister from 2009-2011, the statement said.
It accused him of changing the terms of a contract, without consulting other officials, so that the company received weapons and ammunition of a higher value than it had paid for. A court must still confirm the indictment.
A spokesperson for Cikotic’s security ministry said it had no immediate comment on the accusations. Phones were not answered at Scout, the Croatian buyer, and there was no immediate reply to an email to the company seeking comment.
Bosnia, which is divided into two ethnic regions with a weak central government, was ranked 111th out of 180 countries in the corruption index of watchdog Transparency International last year.
(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Peter Graff)
