Feraget on Amendments to the FBiH Criminal Code: The Goal Is to Reduce Responsibility for Corruption

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The amendment to Article 382 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, adopted in the House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament this week, has sparked reactions from international institutions in BiH and legal experts. The OHR and the US Embassy state that BiH should strengthen the fight against corruption, not weaken it.

Lawyer Ifet Feraget analyzes these amendments in relation to the still valid version, noting that it is a complex issue whose detailed study requires a lot of time.

- At first glance, it is possible to say that the intention of these legal amendments is obviously to reduce criminal liability for this type of corruption, so the amendments remove the words "or any other benefit ... or promise of any other benefit" from the legal text - says Feraget for Patria.

According to the adopted amendments, the word reward has been replaced with the word bribe, which in translation means that "mere influence peddling" without a bribe will not be treated as a criminal offense.

The still valid Article 382, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of BiH, titled: Receiving a reward or other form of benefit for influence peddling, reads:
       
- (1) Whoever, directly or indirectly, demands or receives or accepts a reward or any other benefit or promise of a reward or any other benefit for themselves or another, to, by using their actual or assumed official or social or influential position or other status, mediate for an official or responsible person in the Federation or a foreign official or arbitrator or juror to perform or not perform an official or other act, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of six months to five years.

- Such amendments are contrary to the definition of corruption adopted by the General Assembly of the Council of Europe, which defines corruption as "bribery as well as any other action taken by a person entrusted with a responsible function in the private or public sector or a person with such status, carried out to obtain an illegitimate benefit for themselves or another" - says lawyer Feraget.  

Feraget states that the parliamentarians who supported the amendments to this article of the Criminal Code have shown an unacceptably low level of their social responsibility.

- Instead of these legal amendments, it would have been much better if they had initiated amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code, which catastrophically regulates the position of the injured party, and due to which we have recently witnessed great public dissatisfaction in the cases of Dženan Memić, David Dragičević, Selma Agić, Edita Malkoč - believes Feraget.

Ivana Korajlić from Transparency International is of the opinion that the amendments to the Criminal Code narrow the scope of the criminal offense.

We remind you that this article was already amended in 2016 in line with European practice. 

Amendments to Article 382 adopted in 2016

Amendments adopted in June 2018