The Court granted the prosecution's request for detention of Budimir, his advisor Petar Barisic as well as the chairman of the Bosnian Federation's parliamentary parole commission, Hidajet Halilovic and the other suspects, after the prosecution insisted that the detainees should be kept behind bars, as the most of them hold dual citizenship and may flee the country if released or they may tamper with evidence and witnesses.

Budimir was arrested on Friday along with several other persons on suspicion of taking bribes to pardon persons convicted of serious crimes.

The defence teams announced that they would lodge appeals against the pre-trial custody within the deadline of next 24 hours.

The Party of Justice and Trust (SPP), headed by Budimir, said those developments were the result of the fact that Budimir is "an obstacle" to politicians who are office-holders for years although they are involved in murky dealings but statutory time limits in their proceedings expire with prosecutors keeping those cases hidden on the shelves.

Efforts to resolve the government crisis in the Bosniak-Croat entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, known as the Federation, will have to be postponed following Budimir's arres on corruption charges, the Office of the international community's High Representative (OHR) in Sarajevo confirmed to the media on Saturday.

This week High Representative Valentin Inzko mediated efforts to resolve the issue of appointment of Federation Constitutional Court judges, which depends on a proposal that needs to be signed by Budimir as the sole person authorised to do it. He was expected to do so before the next meeting scheduled for April 30.

"As a result of the new situation, that meeting has been called off," OHR spokesman Mario Brkic said, adding that for now it could not be said what would happen next.

The appointment of Federation Constitutional Court judges is necessary so that the court can rule on applications for the protection of vital national interest because of which the entity's parliament could not pass some important resolutions, including one relating to the entry into force of the decision to take a no-confidence vote in the present government which is composed of ministers from parties that have ceased to be coalition partners in recent months.

Until Budimir's status is resolved, the process of appointment of Constitutional Court judges will remain blocked and the present government crisis will continue.

The international community's High Representative Inzko, has expressed surprise at how the police arrested the president of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zivko Budimir, suspected of bribery.

The Austrian diplomat was quoted by the Federation's broadcaster (FTC) as saying on Saturday that Budimir and any other person should be presumed innocent unless and until proved guilty at a possible trial.

The High Representative thus alluded that Budimir's apprehension on Friday had been conducted in an inappropriate manner as if it had been a show for TV cameras.

I am a bit surprised at how Budimir was arrested. I think that (during his arrest) there were some twenty or thirty cameras there, and i is a bit unusual, Inzko said.

He, however, added that it was important for the responsible institutions to do their job.

The secretary of the upper house of the Croat-Muslim Federation's Parliament, Izmir Hadziavdic warned that Budimir's arrest had made the situation in that entity more complicated with no indications of a way out of it.

Hadziavdic also said that it was difficult to predict the further developments.