Bosnia’s security minister Nenad Nešić has been arrested along with six others on charges of organised crime including alleged money laundering, abuse of office and acceptance of bribes, the state prosecutor’s office said.
The arrests on December 26 came after the state prosecutor and the interior ministry of Bosnia’s Serb Republic’s (RS) investigations of suspected corruption at the public company Roads of RS, where Nešić was the general manager from 2016 to 2020, according to Reuters.
The company’s current general manager Milan Dakic was also arrested, as well as Mladen Lucic, the brother of a former minister.
Nobody from the company was immediately available to comment. Nešić, Dakic and Lucic could not be reached for comment.
The prosecution did not name the other four who were arrested.
RS President Milorad Dodik, who is himself on trial in Bosnia’s state court for allegedly defying the decisions of international peace envoy Christian Schmidt, accused the prosecutor’s office of a “persecution campaign” against Serb government officials.
“The procedure launched by Bosnia’s prosecutor’s office against Security Minister Nenad Nešić is totally unacceptable,” Dodik posted on his X profile.
