Bosnia ex-minister charged with profiting off EU funds

Bosnia's former security minister and three others were charged Monday with abuse of power and corruption for making money off of a European Union-funded project, prosecutors said.

Dragan Mektic, his chief of cabinet, an aide and a Sarajevo-based businessman were accused of a "high-level corruption criminal act that is harming Bosnia's international reputation," prosecutors said in a statement.

The wrongdoing was linked to the implementation of a 198,000 euro (USD 222,000) project financed by the EU to facilitate cross-border cooperation in firefighting, it said.

The four men are suspected of illegally pocketing around 125,000 euros in the scam, which involved the purchase of firefighting equipment and the hiring of people and firms for the project, the prosecutors said.

The prosecutors did not elaborate on when the alleged criminal acts took place, but Mektic was charged as a minister.

Mektic, who held office from 2015 until earlier this month when a new government was voted in, told local media the indictment was "politically mounted" and accused the chief prosecutor of driving it.

Like its Balkan neighbours, Bosnia is plagued with corruption.

Analysts say the country's bloated government system -- a legacy of the 1990s war -- helps open up space for graft to run wild.

The country also lags behind its neighbours on the path to EU membership because the necessary reforms often get blocked as a result of political and communal feuding.

Bosnia applied for membership to the bloc in 2016 but has yet to be granted candidate status.