CSS: Politician corruption privileged over 'ordinary' criminals

(Patria) - We have finally seen concrete results from the work of the Commission for Deciding on Conflict of Interest in Institutions at the BiH level. Namely, the Commission has imposed its first penalty on Marija Ćosić, advisor to the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, Marinko Čavara, in the amount of 5,000 KM due to established conflict of interest.

Since the adoption of this law, almost two years ago, which was one of the conditions on the path to EU integration, we have not seen any progress or efforts by politicians to work on the implementation of laws that citizens have unjustly waited for for several years, state the Center for Security Studies (CSS).

"The imposition of this penalty has raised certain dilemmas in the area of the rule of law and the principle of equality of all persons before the law without discrimination and privilege (principle of isonomy). The measures that the Commission can impose, in the form of fines, range from 1,000 to 20,000 KM. In this case, a fine of 5,000 KM was imposed, but the dilemma remains as to the amount of illegally acquired property in this specific case. If the amount is larger, which is to be expected given the two years since the adoption of this legal norm, the question is justified whether it is worth consciously violating legal provisions until the Commission uses its powers.

Therefore, the purpose of punishment is called into question, i.e., the very goal of general prevention, both in its positive form of creating trust in the functioning of the repressive apparatus and in its negative form of deterrence, i.e., that no one commits such an act. Also, we witness daily that judicial instances, when determining their sentences, along with prison or monetary sanctions, also order the perpetrators to return funds or confiscate
illegally acquired property".

To what extent the members of the Commission will be consistent and expeditious in carrying out their responsibilities in relation to appointed persons in BiH institutions, a considerable number of whom use these privileges and ignore the relevant legal provisions, remains to be seen in the coming period. True, the Commission also has measures at its disposal such as initiating dismissal and calling for resignation from the public office holder, but it seems that these fall more under the discretionary rights of managers than an obligatory norm.

The fact that, in accordance with Article 31 of this Law, the Commission has a period of four years to initiate proceedings regarding the commission of violations of these provisions, and that, in case of grounds for suspicion of a criminal offense by a public office holder, it must inform the competent prosecutor's office within eight days, should not be overlooked.

"We remind you that in the 'Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina', number 18/24 of March 15, 2024, the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Institutions at the BiH Level was published, which was adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH at the 11th extraordinary session of the House of Representatives, held on March 8, 2024, and at the 3rd extraordinary session of the House of Peoples, held on March 8, 2024. Article 6 of the aforementioned law, among other things, clearly states that a public office holder holds only one position and, if employed full-time in that capacity, cannot hold another job, and explicitly not in management or supervisory boards, administrations or management of public companies.

Articles 9 and 10 oblige persons in public office to inform the Commission of their possible conflict of interest upon the entry into force of the law and upon becoming aware of it, and to cede that position to someone else within a specified period, or colloquially speaking, to resign."

As can be concluded from the above, BiH has a quality mechanism for combating corruption in state-level institutions. A significant burden rests on the members of the competent Commission for the consistent implementation and uncompromising fight against corrupt practices of public office holders. Citizens rightly expect consistent application of European standards and principles in the fight against this pervasive scourge that erodes all social strata and contributes to the constant decline of our country on the global corruption perception index.

The present perception of corruption, certainly entrenched among irresponsible public office holders at the state level who disregard legal norms, significantly affects the fulfillment of criteria related to integration into the EU and NATO, as well as reports from the US administration on the state of the biggest challenges for democracy and prosperity of BiH.

Positive progress at the state level would certainly reflect and promote similar progress at other levels of government, finally building a society of equal opportunities and responsible politicians who work for the benefit of their citizens.