The Cantonal Court in Tuzla officially announced today and confirmed the information published this morning by Raport that the founder of the American University in BiH, Denis Prcić, was sentenced to three years in prison.
In the first-instance criminal proceedings, he publicly announced the non-final verdict against Denis Prcić, by which the accused was declared guilty of the criminal offense of Abuse of position or authority, and sentenced him to three years in prison.
“The accused was found guilty of having, in the period from 01.03. to 15.11.2020, as a responsible person, performing the duties of president and at the same time founder of the American University in Bosnia and Herzegovina, exceeded his official authority and assumed the authority of the University’s Board of Directors, in such a way that he arbitrarily increased the costs of education for students, asking them to pay compensation for reaccreditation costs to the account of the university in the amount of 1,500 KM each, whereby refusal to hand over diplomas to students who have not paid the mentioned fee.
In this way, he obtained property benefit in the amount of 63,000 KM for the American University in BiH, while he caused property damage to 42 students who paid an amount of 1,500 KM each, and tried to obtain property benefit for the university from another 30 students in the total amount of 45,000 KM.
The reason, the report learns, is that the students never received their diplomas, and they paid 1,500 KM for this document.
“All injured parties who paid the amount of 1,500 KM were awarded damages, and the accused is obliged to pay the said amount in the name of compensation for material damage to the injured parties within 30 days after the judgment becomes final, under the threat of enforcement.
“The accused was acquitted of having committed the criminal offense of Fraud in custody business during the same period, in such a way that he collected a total of about 18 thousand KM for the American University in BiH from a student from Pakistan and his father for the costs of re-accreditation and tuition fees for postgraduate studies, without ensuring that the student was awarded a diploma of the first cycle of studies, nor did he return the funds paid for tuition fees for postgraduate studies, because it was not proven beyond reasonable doubt that the accused committed the said crime, it says Report.
