BOSNIA - STATE COURT APPROVES ANOTHER TEMPORARY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SARAJEVO 000776 SIPDIS EUR (JONES),EUR/SCE (FOOKS),INL (CARROLL); NSC (HELGERSON); OSD FOR BEIN; DEPT OF JUSTICE FOR OPDAT (ALEXANDRE) E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/29/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR PHUM KDEM BK SUBJECT: BOSNIA - STATE COURT APPROVES ANOTHER TEMPORARY SEIZURE ORDER IN THE DODIK CORRUPTION CASE REF: A. SARAJEVO 489 AND PRIOR ¶B. SARAJEVO 704 Classified By: DCM Judith Cefkin for Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) ¶1. (C) A contact at the State Prosecutor's Office on June 29 told us that the State Court late on June 26 had approved the office's request for a temporary seizure order for additional documents from Republika Srpska (RS) in connection with the ongoing corruption case against RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik and some associates. The order, which was filed under seal, requires the State Investigative and Protective Agency (SIPA) to collect documents from four RS government offices and five private firms within the next two weeks. SIPA will target the RS Government Secretariat, Ministry of Transportation and Communication, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Urban Planning, Construction, and Ecology) as well as Integral Inzinjering, Integra, JP Radio Televisa RS, Telekom Srpske, JP Putovi. SIPA officials plan to adopt the same non-confrontational approach in carrying out the court order as they have done previously. ¶2. (C) Comment: We had anticipated that the State Prosecutor's Office would likely seek new documents as it continued its investigation against Dodik and other individuals. What is unclear is whether the RS government will comply with the new court order. Dodik had previously threatened to use force against SIPA officials if they returned to the RS to execute court orders related to the corruption case (Ref A). Moreover, in the past several weeks, Dodik has ratcheted up his rhetorical attacks against the State Court and the State Prosecutor's Office by declaring both judicial institutions to be "illegal," and has vowed to ignore any summons from SIPA in connection with the corruption case (Ref B). This suggests that we may see yet another confrontation between the RS and state-level judicial and law enforcement institutions in connection with the case in the coming weeks. ENGLISH