The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday filed an indictment against the former director of the oil company Croherc AG, Marinko Planinić, who holds dual Croatian and Bosnian-Herzegovinian citizenship, on suspicion of tax evasion amounting to 18.6 million marks (9.5 million euros), local media reported.
Croherc was a company that operated within the group of the Herzegovina Bank, which was shut down in 2001 by the order of the international administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina due to suspicions of illegal activities shortly after the Croatian self-government was declared in Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose leaders from the HDZ BiH managed this financial institution.
The statement from the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina indicates that the suspect, whose initials were only published, during 2000 and 2001 at the helm of Croherc AG deliberately avoided paying taxes and other obligations, thereby harming the budget of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the amount of 18.6 million marks.
It is explained that Croherc AG imported petroleum derivatives from a Slovenian company and distributed them in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina without paying taxes and other fees. The indictment has been forwarded for confirmation to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to media reports, Croherc AG imported oil from the company OMV Istrabenz from Koper and supplied it to companies that were not properly registered.
