Ramo Isak, the Federation (FBiH) entity’s Interior Minister, spoke to N1 about the security situation in the FBiH, but also about the prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism for which he said he sees no problem with state institutions investigating his property and private businesses or any other politicians’ for that matter. He also touched on the cooperation between the FBiH and Republika Srpska (RS) entity police and whether FBiH police can cross the inter-entity boundary line.

When asked where most of the dirty money comes from, Minister Isak said:

“It usually comes from crime. It’s well known which branch produces the largest amount of such money. It's distribution, drug trafficking and so on. The more we put an end to this way of acquiring money, the more stable our country becomes. We don’t have exact data from which countries it comes from the most, although it’s a known fact that such money comes from all countries of the region, it’s not a secret.”

Isak was asked if he knew of any involvement of local politicians in money laundering through the construction business, to which he said the public must wait for certain investigations, for the statements of the prosecutor's offices.

“Conducting investigations is in the hands of the prosecution, not in the hands of the police authorities,” Isak said.

The Minister called out other politicians to undergo an investigation of the origin of their property.

“Don’t just investigate the property of others, but investigate my property as well. What’s so controversial about that? I call on all state institutions to check the assets of all politicians and let them put me first on the list and then investigate all the others. Maybe it's better that way,” he stressed.

Cooperation with Republika Srpska police

Speaking about the cooperation between the FBiH and RS law enforcement agencies and jurisdictions, the Minister presented the information that the FBiH police does not have to stop at the entity line, or as he said the administrative line, and that it can also act in Republika Srpska if it receives an order from the state Court or Prosecutor's Office.

“The Court and the Prosecutor's Office determine jurisdictions, there is no entity line. It is an administrative line. The FBiH Police can continue to work anywhere in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the order of the state Court or the Prosecutor's Office,” said Isak.

He was asked what would happen if the RS Police blocked the entity boundary line, as RS President Milorad Dodik threatened would happen.

“It cannot be done, it is a traffic stop and the FBiH Police can react without a warrant. Everything is written in the Law that defines these things. No one can cross the administrative line between the entities because it could be considered a coup d'état, that is absolutely clear. If the international forces, which have an obligation, would fail to react, then all the police agencies would react. That will not happen and Dodik says these things it in a populist way. He says such nonsense because his popularity is on the decline,” Isak stated.