Interviews with candidates today: Who will head SIPA?

(Patria) - The Independent Board of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina will hold two sessions today. At the first, it will conduct interviews with candidates who have applied and meet the requirements of the Public Call for the procedure of selecting candidates for the Director of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), and immediately after that, it will hold a new session to determine the ranking list of candidates, which will be sent to the Minister of Security of BiH, Nenad Nešić.

Among the registered candidates is the current director of SIPA, Darko Ćulum, whose term expired in July. It is known that Ćulum enjoys the support of SNSD, but it is questionable whether this will be enough this time.

The other candidates expected to attend the interviews include Goran Pisić, head of the Brčko District Police, Slobodan Radinković, head of the Doboj Police Administration, Ljubiša Pandurević, head of the Financial Intelligence Department of SIPA in Banja Luka, Vlado Jovanić, an official of the Police Support Directorate of the MUP RS, Milosav Savković, head of the Integrity and Legality Service in the MUP RS, and Zoran Savić from the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies (DKPT).

Regardless of the ranking list, Minister Nešić can choose one name and propose the appointment of the SIPA Director to the Council of Ministers of BiH.

What has been circulating about Ćulum for years is that he has long since met the conditions for retirement, but there is no information at the moment whether Ćulum truly meets the retirement conditions.

At the end of June, Minister Nešić and Police Chief Pisić held an official meeting in Brčko, and unofficially, Pisić's name is highlighted as one of the main candidates for this position. Pisić visited the United States on an official trip in 2022, organized by the US Embassy, and his biography also states that he has extensive specialized experience of over 20 years in combating organized crime and drug trafficking in domestic and international contexts.

Ljubiša Pandurević is also associated with Nešić, whose brother Dragiša Pandurević is friends with the Minister of Security.

What remains an unresolved problem burdening this police agency is the status of the fugitive Deputy Director of SIPA, Zoran Galić. He is suspected of abuse of office during his tenure as Director of the BiH Border Police, and on July 8, he fled to Croatia and evaded arrest on the order of the BiH Prosecutor's Office.

Although he has not managed to justify his absence from work to date, nor can his salary be paid, the Council of Ministers of BiH has not yet dismissed him. An Interpol red notice has been issued for Galić. His legal team has filed a request for dismissal due to retirement. Ministers from the Bosniak constituent people do not want to vote for such a dismissal, which would allow him benefits. However, for now, any further steps are stalled, and Croatia has no intention of extraditing Galić, who has dual citizenship.

The Independent Board claims to have concluded the Galić case and left the possibility of dismissal to the Council of Ministers of BiH. However, formally, Galić is still the Deputy Director of SIPA.