The Special Department for Combating Corruption, Organized and Intercantonal Crime of the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (POSKOK) confirmed the indictment of the Special Department of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office of FBiH and accepted a plea agreement against Amar Hodžić, known to the public as rapper Buba Corelli.
According to the official statement, Hodžić, born in 1989 in Sarajevo, admitted that he committed the criminal offense of tax evasion, after which he paid the amount of 115,642 convertible marks to the account of the Tax Administration of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which fully settled the main tax debt.
Perennial tax avoidance
The indictment charges Hodžić with knowingly and intentionally avoiding the payment of taxes and contributions prescribed by the legislation of the Federation of BiH, as a taxpayer, in the period from January 1, 2017 to March 31, 2022. According to the prosecutor’s office, he did not submit the required data on the realized taxable income to the competent institutions, thereby avoiding legal obligations.
In particular, it is stated that Hodžić acted contrary to the applicable regulations, by not paying income tax and health insurance contributions on funds paid to him from abroad.
Damage to the budgets and funds of FBiH
By doing so, as stated in the indictment, the accused obtained an illegal financial benefit, while budgets and extra-budgetary funds in the Federation of BiH were damaged for a total of 115,642 KM.
The act is legally qualified as a criminal offense of tax evasion from Article 273, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in connection with Article 55 of the same law.
Illegally acquired benefit completely forfeited
By accepting the plea agreement, the court decided to confiscate the entire property benefit obtained by committing the criminal offense from the accused. As confirmed, Amar Hodžić, as a taxpayer, has fully compensated the main debt to the FBiH Tax Administration, which means that the financial obligations on this basis have been settled.
The decision of POSKOK represents another case in which the judicial institutions of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina prosecuted tax irregularities related to publicly exposed persons, with the emphasis that legal obligations apply equally to all taxpayers.
(TIP/Source: federalna.ba)
