The Appellate Panel of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina increased the prison sentence for Kemal Čaušević, former director of the Indirect Taxation Authority, from four (4) to five and a half years (5.5) for receiving gifts and other forms of benefits. He is acquitted of the charges of abuse of power.
At the same time, the first instance judgment convicting him of money laundering was revoked and, following the appeal of his family, also the decision on asset confiscation. A new trial before the Appellate Panel is scheduled, in which the Court will render a final verdict.
Under the first instance judgment from May last year, Čaušević was sentenced to a single prison sentence of nine years. For money laundering, he received six years, for gift-receiving four, while he was acquitted of charges of abuse of power. The verdict also ordered that real estate worth BAM 1.72 million and BAM 575.239 in cash be seized from Čaušević.
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In 2017, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH filed an indictment against Čaušević for money laundering, accepting bribes, and abuse of power. He facilitated a privileged status for the companies engaged in the import of textiles, receiving in return BAM 1.72 million.
In the first instance, Anes Sadiković, a textile trader, who has been accused together with Čaušević, was sentenced to two years in prison for giving gifts and other forms of benefit.
In 2013, the Center for Investigative Journalism (CIN) revealed that Čaušević, while he was the director of the ITA BiH, bought real estate worth 1.8 million marks in less than seven years. From 2006 to 2012, he bought five apartments, four business premises, and 20,000 square meters of land in attractive locations in Sarajevo.
Journalists found that he did not take out loans for the purchase of real estate but he paid for them in cash or via a bank account. Also, he could not have financed the purchase of these properties from his income, which totaled BAM 576,000. A few days after the release of the story, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina blocked his property.
