Having held a hearing to deliberate on a guilty plea agreement in the case of Abdulah Čepalo and others (S1 2 K 048074 25 K), on 15 April 2025, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina delivered and publicly announced a judgment finding the accused Abdulah Čepalo and Bekir Čepalo guilty, and the legal entity “Rudnici gipsa” z.d.d. Donji Vakuf responsible as follows:
- Abdulah Čepalo for the criminal offense of Tax Evasion or Fraud under Article 210(4) in connection with Paragraph 1 of the CC BiH, all as read with Article 54 of the CC BiH;
- Bekir Čepalo for the criminal offense of Tax Evasion or Fraud under Article 210(3) in connection with Paragraph 1 of the CC BiH, and
- the accused legal entity “Rudnici gipsa" z.d.d. Donji Vakuf for the criminal offense of Tax Evasion or Fraud under Article 210(4) in connection with Paragraph 1 of the CC BiH, all as read with Article 54 and Article 124 c) of the CC BiH.
The Court sentenced the accused Abdulah Čepalo to imprisonment for a term of 1 (one) year, in addition to a fine in the amount of 10,000.00 BAM to be paid by the accused within a period of 6 (six) months from the day of finality of the judgment.
The Court imposed on the accused Bekir Čepalo a suspended sentence of imprisonment for a term of 1 (one) year, which will not be executed unless the accused commits a new criminal offense within a period of 3 (three) years from the day of finality of the judgment. The accused was also fined in the amount of 5,000.00 BAM, which the accused is ordered to pay within a period of 6 (six) months after finality of the judgment.
The Court imposed on the accused legal entity “RUDNICI GIPSA“ z.d.d. Donji Vakuf a suspended sentence, fine in the amount of 50,000.00 BAM, which will not be executed unless the accused legal entity commits a new criminal offense within a period of 3 (three) years from the day of finality of the judgment. Pursuant to the legal provisions, the proceeds of crime in the amount of 636,210.37 BAM were confiscated from the accused legal entity.
The accused were, inter alia, found guilty because Abdulah Čepalo, in the capacity of a founder-owner and director/responsible person with no limited powers in the legal entity “Rudnici gipsa” z.d.d. Donji Vakuf, during the period between June 2018 and April 2019, and the accused Bekir Čepalo, in the capacity of director-responsible person with no limited powers in the legal entity “Rudnici gipsa” z.d.d. Donji Vakuf, during the January – August 2020 period, managed the operations of the referenced legal entity with the intent to obtain illicit property gain, knowingly and willingly, each of them during the term of the above referenced offices, avoided to calculate and present the related VAT to the taxable turnover of the legal entity, as prescribed by the BiH tax legislation, in a total amount of 636,210.37 BAM, having thus caused damage to the BiH budget in the indicated a mount.
The accused legal entity “Rudnici gipsa“ z.d.d. Donji Vakuf is found guilty because, as a legal entity, it disposed with the unlawfully obtained property gain in a total amount of 636,210,37 BAM, which property gain was accrued by the accused Abdulah Čepalo and Bekir Čepalo in the name, for the account and in favor of the legal entity.