Fight against crime and corruption still not important to SDA-HDZ-SBB coalition

The parliamentary majority in the Federation of BiH, consisting of SDA – HDZ – SBB, rejected at yesterday's session of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of FBiH supporting the amendments of the Social Democratic Party of BiH, which provided for the allocation of five million KM for the start of work of the Special Department of the Federal Prosecutor's Office and the Special Department of the Supreme Court of FBiH, reports the Patria news agency.

The purpose of the proposed amendments was to secure the necessary financial resources for the implementation of the Law on Combating Corruption and Organized Crime in FBiH (Official Gazette of FBiH, number 59/14).

Given that the Government of FBiH, for unknown reasons, did not spend a single mark of the 3.5 million KM during 2015, which was allocated within the budget for financing obligations under the said law, we considered that it was high time in 2016 to proceed with the full implementation of this extremely important law, which represents a key legal solution aimed at accelerated and efficient fight against corruption and organized crime.

It is particularly important to note that with the entry into force of this law, the actual jurisdiction for prosecuting criminal acts of corruption, organized crime, economic crime, and a number of other criminal acts has been transferred to the aforementioned Special Departments. Thus, criminal legislation in FBiH, after 2003 and the judicial reform, has finally been returned to the constitutional framework, given that according to the Constitution of FBiH, the fight against these criminal acts is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the institutions of FBiH.

However, without securing the necessary funds for the work of these institutions, this law remains a dead letter on paper. The Government's explanation that within the budget of the Ministry of Justice of FBiH they planned one million KM for these purposes is incoherent, because that amount is neither sufficient nor can it be legally spent in this manner for the intended purposes. 

We remind the public that in the previous term, among others, the MPs of SDA and SBB voted for the adoption of this law, who with their move yesterday clearly showed that they are not interested in the fight against corruption and organized crime, and that their vote for this law was a purely pre-election move. The stance of HDZ on the fight against corruption and crime has been known before, as they were also against the adoption of these laws in the previous term.

The SDP BiH calls on representatives of the international community, especially the Delegation of the European Union to BiH, with whose representatives this law was drafted and harmonized, to actively engage in resolving this problem, and to stop turning a blind eye to the obvious violation of the law and the deliberate prevention of the establishment of institutions that should oppose systemic corruption and politically sponsored crime.

The fight against corruption and organized crime remains one of the key goals in the political activities of the SDP. We hereby thank all MPs, 38 of them, who yesterday supported the proposed amendment, among whom were also those coming from the ruling parties, reports NAP.