The trial in the "Respirators" case continued today in the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which Fadil Novalić, Prime Minister of FB&H, Jelka Milićević, Federal Minister of Finance, Fahrudin Solak, suspended director of FCPA and Fikret Hodžić, owner of "Srebrna malina" are accused of a corruption affair worth 10.5 million KM.

Today, prosecutors continued to question witness Bahra Džaka, the secretary in the Office of the accused Novalić, who knew about all the offers that reached the Government, including those of "Srebrena malina" by Fikret Hodžić.

When asked by prosecutor Mirza Hukeljić, she replied that it was not an envelope that went to the director of KCUS, Sebija Izetbegović, by mistake, "but a piece of paper with the handwritten „Canada“ " on it.

They were couple of offers

She confirmed that several offers had arrived at the Office of the Government of FB&H, at least three, and that the last offer was from Fikret Hodžić and "Srebrena malina".

However, as she said, this offer of "Srebrena malina" did not seem serious to her, which is why she did not send it to the FB&H Public Health Institute.

-Only at the end of May can we deliver the first quantities. There are 400 pieces in stock, price 90,000 KM + VAT. That is the only thing that is available today. This is best in class. They can be delivered in Sarajevo in seven days – it is written in one of Hodžić's messages to Džaka.

She also confirmed that in later correspondence with Hodžić, he sent an e-mail stating that the government must send a letter of intent to the Chinese, and even sent a letter of intent from the Serbian government about buying respirators, which they sent to China.

Džaka said that the Government wrote the letter and translated it into English, but that by mistake, she wrote 200 respirators, instead of hundred. Džaka later explained that the first letter of intent contained a facsimile of the signature of Prime Minister Novalić, which she had placed because the prime minister was busy.

She added that the first letter of intent signed on 2nd of April was an offer for HC-VE003 respirators, but that a second letter of intent which was brough by Zoran Blagojević, Prime Minister Novalić's external public relations consultant, was signed on 15th of April . There was a hurry and as she said, she pulled Novalić out of the meeting and he just signed while standing.

Special treatment

However, after the respirators arrived in B&H on May 16th last year, Prime Minister Fadil Novalić sent a message to Džaka at 3:30 PM:

-Please check this one more time. I found out about the AM812A from the media. That one did not cross us- Novalić wrote to the secretary, and she had previously written to him "as far as I remember, there are none of those we asked for"

As she said, she concluded that Novalić did not know which respirators were ordered. In the message, Džaka reminded him that the second letter of intent he had signed contained that code.

She explained that the letters of intent are not a binding act, but only an expression of intent to procure respirators.

Answering the question of Novalić's lawyer Vasvija Vidović, Džaka explained that Fikret Hodžić's offer did not have any special treatment in relation to the offers from the other two offers, including offer „Canada“.

Prosecutor Džermin Pašić later reformulated that into a question "did you communicate with others who sent offers in the same way as with Fikret Hodzic", to which Džaka briefly replied "no".

She also confirmed that Hodžić had sent another offer for medical equipment, and that she had previously sent him a table with the required equipment. She could not answer the question where the table came from and who made it, but later, when asked by the defense, she confirmed that the Public Health Institute had sent a list of necessary medical devices.

She inquired with a friend

Hodžić made an offer which he sent on the same day, April 1st, last year, 15:01 with a total value of equipment of 3,393,000 KM.

Explaining the way of working in the office of Prime Minister Novalić, Bahra Džaka explained that Hasan Ganibegović was the director of the Prime Minister's Office and her direct superior, and that every act was reviewed so that he could initial it. The witness said that Ganibegović had certain objections to her work, but that they overcame everything. Judge Branko Perić was just interested in what Ganibegović resented to Džaka.

- The director did not want to initial the first letter of intent - said Džaka, who replied via viber that she must send it because of the hurry, to which he replied "send it" briefly.

The prosecutors were interested in the communication between Bahra Džaka and Vildana from KCUS (then the secretary of the general director Sebija Izetbegović), considering that Džaka confirmed that they did not know each other personally, and that she sent the offers they received for respirators. She confirmed that she had talked to Vildana on two occasions and that it was probably a matter of resolving the "Canada" paper problem.

Džaka also forwarded offers for respirators to her friend, anesthesiologist Aida Čorbeg, in order to inform her "what is available on the Chinese market and whether those that FB&H wants to buy are good". Čorbeg will be questioned in the continuation of the trial scheduled for April 16th.