HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ---------------------------Bosnia seeks arrest of its former envoy to U.N.
By Daria Sito-Sucic
SARAJEVO, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Bosnian authorities said on Saturday they had asked Interpol to issue an international arrest warrant for its former ambassador to the United Nations Muhamed Sacirbey over allegations he misused government funds.
Foreign ministry auditors made the allegations against Sacirbey, who also served as Bosnia's foreign minister, said the misuse of funds related to his tenure as ambassador to the United Nations.
Sacirbey, who was replaced in the top diplomatic post in December 2000 but reportedly still lives in the United States, has denied any wrongdoing and blamed confusion over the finances at the U.N. mission on postwar chaos.
After an investigation completed last March, the ministry's auditing team concluded Sacirbey had deprived the U.N. mission in New York of more than $610,000 in the year 2000.
Further investigation into some other financial transactions had indicated that funds which were at his disposal and spent without any supporting documentation might total $2.5 million, the team said in its report.
The Interior Ministry of Bosnia's Muslim-Croat federation said it had asked Interpol to issue a warrant for Sacirbey's arrest as he had not responded to two requests to appear before a Sarajevo court investigating the case.
"We sent a request to Interpol on December 21, 2001, to issue an arrest warrant for Muhamed Sacirbey," ministry spokesman Nazif Dinarevic told Reuters on Saturday.
PROMINENT SPOKESMAN
During a first stint as ambassador to the United Nations and later as foreign minister, Sacirbey was one of the Bosnian government's main spokesmen during the 1992-95 war, describing the suffering of Bosnia's Muslims and calling for action against Serb forces.
In an interview with the Washington Post last year, Sacirbey insisted he was innocent of the charges against him.
He said money was sometimes moved without full authorisation during his time at the United Nations due to the difficulties of governing in postwar chaos but was always spent on official business.
"Nowhere did I profit personally," he was quoted as saying.
Sacirbey holds both U.S. and Bosnian citizenship and it is not clear where he would face trial should the case against him get that far.
An unnamed official from the Bosnian branch of Interpol told the Nezavisne Novine daily on Saturday that U.S. police should arrest and detain Sacirbey.
U.S. judicial authorities would then examine the evidence against him and then decide whether to try him in the United States or extradite him, the official was quoted as saying.
11:15 01-05-02
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