SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina), September 11 (SeeNews) – The U.S. Department of State has imposed sanctions on Nikola Spiric, a Bosnian Serb member of the country's parliament, due to his involvement in 'significant corruption', it said.
Spiric, who is a member of the Bosnian Serb hardline SNSD party, has been found to engage in and benefit from public corruption, due to which he is banned from entering the U.S., the State Department said in a statement on Monday.
"Mr. Spiric engaged in and benefited from public corruption, including the acceptance of improper benefits in exchange for the performance of public functions and interference with public processes, during his tenure as a member of the House of Representatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina", the State Department explained.
It noted that according to U.S. regulations in cases where the Secretary of State has credible information that foreign officials have been involved in significant corruption or gross violations of human rights, those individuals and their immediate family members are ineligible for entry into the United States.
"In addition to the designation of Mr. Spiric, the Secretary is also publicly designating Mr. Spiric’s spouse, Nada Spiric, his son, Aleksandar Spiric, and his daughter, Jovana Spiric", the State Department added.
In early 2017, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Milorad Dodik, president of Bosnia's Serb Republic and leader of SNSD, for actively obstructing the Dayton Peace Accords which ended the 1990s war in Bosnia.
The U.S. Treasury Department said at the time that Dodik poses a significant threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As a result of U.S. action, any property or interest in property of Dodik within U.S. jurisdiction is blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with him. Additionally, persons who provide material support to Dodik may also be subject to designation.
Dodik told Serbian public broadcaster RTS last week that the second term of US president Donald Trump will be a chance for the Serb Republic to secede from Bosnia and possibly join Serbia. In the past Dodik has also expressed his thoughts that Trump's term will be good for the Serb people.
The Serb Republic is one of two entities that form Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other is the Federation.