The prime minister of Bosnia’s Federation (FBiH) region and two other suspects have been handed over to the State Prosecutor’s Office after being detained overnight over a deal which involved the procurement of overpriced ventilators that are unfit for treating COVID-19.

FBiH Prime Minister, Fadil Novalic, former head of the FBiH Civil Protection Authority, Fahrudin Solak, and the owner of the company which procured the ventilators, Fikret Hodzic, will be questioned by the prosecutors who will then decide whether to keep them in custody for the next 30 days.

The three were already questioned by state police on Thursday in connection with the purchase of 100 ventilators from China by the company, which runs a raspberry farm and has no prior history in dealing with medical equipment.

The fact that a 10.5 million Bosnian Mark (some 5.3 million Euro) government contract was granted to Srebrena Malina sparked outrage in the semi-autonomous Bosnian region.

According to prosecutors, experts found that the ventilators “did not even meet the minimum characteristics necessary for the adequate treatment of patients in intensive care units, among which are COVID-19 patients.”