The president of Bosnia's autonomous Muslim-Croat federation and 19 another regional officials were arrested on Friday in an anti-corruption probe that also targeted the offices of the regional government, Reuters quoted a spokesman for the state prosecutor as saying. The raid on Zivko Budimir's Sarajevo office and the regional government in the southern town of Mostar is the most high-profile anti-graft operation in Bosnia since independence more than two decades ago. "Budimir and 19 other federation officials have been arrested," spokesman Boris Grubesic told Reuters by telephone. "The group will be handed over to the prosecutor who will decide on further proceedings," he added. During the six-hour operation, police searched the offices of the federation president and government as well as a number of private apartments of the region's top officials, said Grubesic. The police also searched the premises of the regional commission in charge of pardoning convicted criminals and arrested the head of the commission. Local media have previously reported that Budimir was suspected of taking bribes in exchange for granting amnesty to a number of convicts. -- SPA 19:38 LOCAL TIME 16:38 GMT تغريد
