Dean of Sarajevo Faculty of Dentistry and Chief Education Inspector arrested

Ajanovic is suspected of abuse of office or authority and of accepting a reward or other benefit for influence peddling, while Hakalovic is suspected of abuse of office or authority. According to the prosecution, the alleged offences were committed jointly.

The investigation also includes Adna Mesihovic, Minister of Science, Higher Education and Youth of Sarajevo Canton, and Dzenita Viteskic, who are likewise suspected of abuse of office or authority.

“The investigation conducted by the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor’s Office concerns a series of actions undertaken by Muhamed Ajanovic together with Dalila Hakalovic, Adna Mesihovic and Dzenita Viteškić in order to secure an unlawful extension of his mandate. As alleged, Ajanovic used his personal and friendly ties with Mesihovic, Viteskic and Hakalovic to obtain the necessary opinions and instructions from the Ministry, which enabled the failure to announce a public competition for the election of a dean and allowed him to remain in office until amendments to the Statute of the University of Sarajevo were adopted, opening the way for new mandates,” the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.

The operation, codenamed “Envelope” (“Koverta”), is the result of cooperation between the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor’s Office, the Police Administration of MUP Canton Sarajevo, and the Office for the Fight Against Corruption KS, and is aimed at prosecuting corruption-related criminal offences that allegedly caused damage to the Sarajevo Canton budget.

In early April this year, as part of the same operation, two ministers in the Sarajevo Canton government – Adna Mesihovic and Enda Pavic-Pecenkovic – were arrested on suspicion of illegal employment practices within the Ministry. At that time, Dzenita Viteskic and Ibrahim Obhodjas were also detained. Obhodjas is both the head of the University of Vitez and a member of the Governing Board of the Sarajevo Canton Employment Service.

According to unofficial information, the case was preceded by an internal job competition after which Obhodjas’s sister was transferred from the Ministry of Science to the Ministry of Labour through an unlawful amendment to internal regulations. At a session of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly, Adna Mesihovic was formally dismissed from her ministerial post and has since continued her political engagement as an MP. Dusanka Boskovic, a non-party appointee, was named as the new Minister of Higher Education, Science and Youth.