Interviews with candidates for FUP director, could the appointment wait?

SARAJEVO, (Patria) – Interviews with the seven remaining candidates for the director of the Federal Police Administration will be held on Monday, April 15, after which the Independent Board of the FBiH Parliament will establish a ranking list of candidates to be forwarded to the Minister of Internal Affairs of the FBiH.

The candidates for the director of the Federal Police Administration are: Zoran Čegar, head of the Uniformed Police Sector of the Federal Police Administration, Ensad Korman, official of the FUP (although he was elected deputy director of the FUP), Zoran Galić, director of the BiH Border Police, Mustafa Hujdurović, inspector of the FUP, Milan Galić, current police commissioner of the West Herzegovina Canton, Ljuban Frljić, head of the Operational Center of the MUP SBK Travnik, and Robert Perić, head of the South Čapljina Field Office of the GP BiH.

Given that the current Minister of Internal Affairs is Bosniak, the Law on Internal Affairs of the FBiH stipulates that the director cannot be of the same nationality, which means that only candidates from the Croatian community remain in the running: Zoran Čegar, Zoran and Milan Galić, Robert Perić, and Ljuban Frljić.

The Patria agency previously reported that it could be Robert Perić, who has close ties with the president of HDZ BiH, Dragan Čović. Perić has been associated with the scandal surrounding the admission of the VII and VIII classes of cadets to the BiH Border Police.

Interestingly, one of the candidates is the current director of the BiH Border Police, Zoran Galić, whose second term as head of that police agency was renewed in 2018. Given that the BiH Border Police is the first to be hit by the migrant crisis, and Galić is blamed for the lack of good organization and adequate response to the arrival of migrants, it is possible that Galić is looking for another position to escape the burning issue of the migrant crisis.

The president of HDZ BiH, Dragan Čović, also stated a few days ago that BiH was not prepared for the wave of migrants and has no control over them. Although there was a constant increase in migrants throughout 2018, Galić reacted late, requesting additional personnel only almost halfway through last year. Although a new and larger wave of migrants is announced, the BiH Border Police has exhausted all its capacities, and assistance from the BiH Armed Forces has been requested.

In recent years, the GP BiH has also been shaken by other scandals, from the disappearance of ammunition and police equipment from warehouses, to the questionable diploma of director Galić, rigged cadet admissions, and strained interpersonal relationships within the GP leadership itself.

Incidentally, before coming to GP BiH, Galić was the police commissioner of the West Herzegovina Canton when the fan of FK Sarajevo, Vedran Puljić, was killed in 2009. The real culprit for his death has never been discovered, although Puljić was hit by a bullet from a police pistol.

Some media outlets have reported that the favorite for the position of FUP director is Milan Galić, police commissioner of ZHK. Likewise, it is possible that due to obstructions and the halted process of forming the government, the election of the FUP director will also be blocked, given that the proposal should be submitted to the Government by the still current minister Aljoša Čampara (SDA). It is very possible that he will not do so, just as he waited for months with the proposal for the deputy director of the FUP, thereby enabling Dragan Lukač to gain illegal benefits and receive severance pay in the amount of 30,000 KM.