Bosnia regional PM jailed for embezzlement over COVID ventilators

A Bosnian regional premier and two other men were sentenced to up to six years in jail on Wednesday on charges of embezzlement over the purchase of defective ventilators for COVID patients in 2020 via a raspberry-processing firm.
Fadil Novalic, the prime minister of Bosnia’s autonomous Bosniak-Croat Federation, was sentenced to four years for abuse of office and violations of a law on public tenders.
Lawyers of all three men, who denied wrongdoing, said they would appeal the verdict and they remain free for the time being.
This is the first time that a senior official has been sentenced to a prison term for embezzlement in Bosnia, which has been plagued by corruption scandals.
Novalic’s lawyer Vasvija Vidovic said the case was fabricated by the media and that the sentence was politically motivated.