(ANSA) - SARAJEVO, 29 MAG - Last night Sarajevo police arrested Fadil Novalic, premier of the BH Federation (the Bosniak Muslim majority entity of Bosnia), along with the director of Civil Protection Fahrudin Solak and the owner of the company 'Srebrena Malina' (Silver raspberry) Fikret Hodzic.

Local media reported. According to the website of the Sarajevo-based Dnevni Avaz newspaper, the three men are suspected of criminal association, abuse of office and money laundering, as part of an investigation into the purchase from China, for 5.3 m euros, of one hundred respirators which proved to be unusable in the intensive care units, amid the coronavirus pandemic. The contract had been signed by Solak and the investigation will have to determine, among other things, how Hodzic's company, whose official business is the cultivation and processing of fruit and vegetables, was able to win the contract, without any other firms being allowed to bid for the order. (ANSA).