PERSON ACCUSED OF CORRUPTION OFFENCE SIGNS PLEA AGREEMENT

In the case conducted for the criminal offense of Abuse of Office or Official Authority under Article 220, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the accused Emica Pezo* (1955) singed a Plea Agreement admitting guilt for the commission of the criminal offense charged against her by the Indictment of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Following the Plea Agreement, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced the accused to one year in prison. The accused pleaded guilty to the fact that, as an official person- an employee of the Indirect Taxation Authority (ITA) of Bosnia and Herzegovina working at the Mostar Regional Center, she abused her official position in the period from 2017 to 2019, as she used the assigned user account to enter the electronic auxiliary book that serves to monitor data and collect indirect taxes and other revenues collected by the ITA BiH, and, although she knew that certain duties had not been paid, she unlawfully marked them as paid, in order to benefit a shipping company and enable it to gain benefits in the form of concealing unpaid obligations. Due to the above, the ITA BiH failed to timely activate the shipping company’s bank guarantees which ensured the collection of these duties in the total amount of BAM 369,466.58. Subsequently, the ITA BiH collected funds in the amount of BAM 183,050.97, while the remaining amount of BAM 186,415.61 caused damage to the BiH budget.