SARAJEVO, April 29 (RAPSI, Yulia Petrovskaya) - A Bosnian court on Sunday approved the detainment of President of the Muslim autonomous republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Zivko Budimir and four other officials for 30 days on charges of corruption, the local media report.
The police detained Budimir on Friday in his office in Sarajevo. He is suspected of taking bribes to pardon convicts.
The predominantly Muslim Bosniak-Croat Federation and the Serb-run Republika Srpska make up Bosnia and Herzegovina. Each has its own president, government, parliament, police and other bodies.
A total of 20 people were detained on Friday on suspicion of corruption, abuse of power, drug trafficking and organized crime. The police have seized documents related to the work of the Federal Pardons Commission, computers, mobile phones, SIM cards, as well as several other items.
The details of the operation have not been disclosed. According to the Sarajevo-based newspaper Dnevni Avaz, there was a large sum of money in Budimirs safe whose origin he could not explain. The newspaper writes that the suspects were trailed and their phones were tapped for months, and that the police have recordings of the president speaking on the phone about "remuneration."
It is rumored that Budimir charged 30,000 Convertible Marks or 15,000 for one year of clemency.