Top Bosnian government official convicted of abuse of office

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — A top Bosnian government official and two others have been convicted and given prison sentences over the procurement at highly inflated prices of inadequate medical equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fadil Novalic, the prime minister of one of the country’s two highly autonomous regions, the Bosniak-Croat Federation, was convicted Wednesday of abuse of office and sentenced to four years in prison. The owner of a fruit processing company that received about 5 million euros ($5.5 million) from the government to purchase 100 deficient ventilators from China for COVID-19 patients, and a top state civil protection official were also convicted and sentenced to five and six years respectively.