The President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zivko Budimir, resolutely dismissed accusations of corruption at a session of the lower house of the Bosniak-Croat entity's parliament in Sarajevo on Tuesday, claiming that he had not received any rewards in return for pardons that he had approved.
"When I made decisions, I did not make them based on any favours. If these things did happen at other levels, I had no knowledge of them, and if I did have, I would have requested an investigation," Budimir told a special session of parliament, convened to discuss his moral responsibility following accusations of his involvement in corruption.
Budimir said that all the pardons he had granted were according to the law, noting that his predecessors had granted considerably more pardons than he had. He said that Ejup Ganic had on average granted 48 pardons each month, while he had granted nine.
The house will decide after a debate whether it will take action to relieve Budimir of his presidential duties. If such a request is endorsed by two-thirds of MPs, the same decision must also be taken by the upper house and only then can such a motion be addressed to the Constitutional Court.
