Galić disabled Border Police with poor management, then was rewarded with a position in SIPA

By: Amra Vrabac

The Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina will have a shortage of nearly 800 police officers by the end of this year. In the next two years, numerous police officers will meet the conditions for retirement. Part of the staff voluntarily leaves the police for various reasons. Although this fact is not a secret, and it is being increasingly loudly discussed by the Union of the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the question arises as to what the former director Zoran Galić was doing and why he did not seek additional recruitment in this state police agency.

To make matters worse, Galić served two full terms at the helm of the Border Police, and in February of this year he was appointed Deputy Director of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA).

During Zoran Galić's mandate, in November 2020, a competition was announced for the admission of 150 cadets. This competition was accompanied by one of the largest corruption scandals involving members of the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as cadets who wanted to become police officers. The scandal was uncovered in 2021, and a court process followed. Unfortunately, due to the actions of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, this competition continued, and at the beginning of October this year, 122 cadets were sent for training in Mostar. Thus, for almost three years, the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina had no new recruitments, which significantly affected the total number of employees.

Zoran Galić personally selected the Commission for the admission of cadets, and during the trial of Rejhan Raković and others, he appeared as a witness, claiming that Raković was "his best man." At the time of the arrest, lists of cadets who needed to pass and around 100,000 KM were found with Raković. Zoran Galić's role was never fully clarified. By concluding a plea agreement, Raković was sentenced to four years in prison.

To this day, the exact number of cadets who paid money is unknown, and even for those who are known, the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina had no interest in completing the investigation. From Raković, money in the amount of 58,000.00 KM and 25,900.00 EUR is also being confiscated.

Galić left in February, and was succeeded by Mirko Kuprešaković. It is clear that the new director was left with many problems to solve, but in eight months it is not possible to catch up with what had been accumulating for eight years. Kuprešaković is an experienced police officer, and the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina has already announced a new competition for the admission of cadets. Again, 125 cadets were requested. If everything goes according to the law, the new cadets should complete the entire procedure until being sent for training when the earlier group finishes their training.

The cadets who were sent for training at the beginning of October will be able to establish an employment relationship no earlier than the middle of next year. Until then, the Border Police will face a shortage of police officers who are already exhausted from protecting the state border from the new migrant wave.

It is interesting that no one has sought accountability from Zoran Galić for the personnel devastation in the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are six open cases in which Zoran Galić has been reported. Many staff members left the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina because they could not advance only because they were not close to Galić and the then management staff.

The new negotiators, as the parties of the troika (NIP, SDP, Our Party) like to call themselves, although aware of the problems in the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the scandals that followed Galić, did not ask their coalition partners that he not be elected Deputy Director of SIPA.

Instead, the ministers from the troika, by their vote, supported the absolution of Galić from guilt for the devastation he left in the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina.