Eurasia Press & News
Valentin Inzko denies Croatian journalist’s claim that an investigation into Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and his son Igor has been launched in Austria or Germany.The international community’s High Representative has denied a journalist’s claims that anti-corruption investigations have been initiated against the President of the Republika Srpska, the Serb-dominated entity in Bosnia.
Inzko said he was “surprised by the false data” presented in an article penned by a Croatian journalist, Domagoj Margetic, who claimed that judicial proceedings had been launched in Austria “by State Prosecutor (Rolf) Holub”.
The international official, himself an Austrian, explained that Holub was a member of the Austrian parliament, rather than its state prosecutor.
“I do not know the gentleman (Margetic), but I did read his articles,” he said.
“The first thing that surprised me was that he named a man, the Austrian prosecutor, although that man is not a prosecutor. He is a member of parliament, he’s not any kind of prosecutor.
“I called him to ask what was going on, whether proceedings had been launched, and he said he had launched nothing against Dodik.”
Iznko noted that Holub had headed the anti-corruption committee in the parliament of the federal state of Carinthia, and that, thanks to his work, an Austrian politician involved in the Hypo Alpe Adria Bank affair was jailed for five years.
“It’s true that while he headed the committee, he sent some boxes filled with material to Vienna, but I really don’t know what was in those boxes. However it is true that no proceedings had ever been initiated against Dodik,” he added.
Inzko also said that there was an investigation in Germany related to the Austrian bank, but that “it had nothing to do with the Dodik family, but rather with some other persons”.
Margetic’s article published last week on the SEEbiz.eu website, claimed that the state prosecution in Munich, Germany, had launched an investigation into the affairs of Dodik and his son, on suspicion of “multiple criminal acts in the Hypo Alpe Andria Bank in Banja Luka case”.
The German prosecution then issued a statement saying that there was no ongoing, or past investigation against Dodik, or any member of his family.
