Bosnian tycoon-turned-politician cleared of corruption charges

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - A Bosnian tycoon who leads a party in the ruling coalition was cleared on Wednesday of charges of organizing a criminal group and interfering in a high-profile court case in Kosovo against Balkan drug boss Naser Kelmendi.

Fahrudin Radoncic, a former owner of Bosnia's largest newspaper, Dnevni Avaz, and leader of the Union for a Better Future (SBB) party, has repeatedly said he was a victim of a "politically fabricated process".

Radoncic had been accused of organizing and leading a four-member group including two other SBB officials who were thought to be involved in corruption, intimidating witnesses in the Kelmendi case and other offences.

All four were cleared of charges of interfering in the drug trial of Kelmendi, a Kosovo-born ethnic Albanian.

A Kosovo court in February jailed Kelmendi for six years for trafficking drugs but cleared him of murder, organized crime and other charges.

(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

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