Border Police of BiH on the Svevlada Hoffmann Case

The Border Police of BiH has issued a denial of the claims in the text "What is the background of the decision: Instead of data on Galić's extravagance, Hoffmann received a suspension decision", which the Patria News Agency publishes in full.          

The text contains untruths or half-truths that have misled the portal visitors and citizens. We particularly emphasize that the author of the disputed text did not answer the question posed by the sensationalist headline, but instead used the suspension of a police officer to damage the reputation of the Border Police of BiH and its leaders, presenting them as budget spendthrifts who rule by terror.

Without repeating all the disputed statements from the text, in order to provide accurate information to the public, we point out the following:

The Disciplinary Commission of the Border Police of BiH initiated disciplinary proceedings against police officer S.H. due to the existence of grounds for suspicion that he committed several serious violations of official duty: "conduct that damages the reputation of the police body", "providing false information that affects decision-making by competent authorities or causes other harmful consequences", and "abuse of official position".

Namely, there is a well-founded suspicion that S.H., in December 2015 at a meeting of border police chiefs in Budva, provided false information to officials of the MARRI Regional Center in order to obtain the right to travel expenses for a business trip on the route Sarajevo – Budva – Sarajevo. Although he used an official vehicle of the Border Police of BiH, S.H. took 238 euros in cash from the meeting organizer for transportation, which he did not deposit into the BiH Border Police treasury but kept for himself. Also, in the report on the business trip submitted to the Director of the BiH Border Police, S.H. did not state that he had received money for transportation from the meeting organizer.

Taking into account the nature of the serious violations of official duty attributed to S.H., the circumstances under which they were committed, and the fact that he is a high-ranking police officer, in order to protect the interests and reputation of the service, Director Zoran Galić issued a decision on the temporary suspension of the officer on June 15, 2016, which will last until the disciplinary proceedings are concluded.

According to the order of the competent prosecutor's office, the BiH Border Police is verifying whether the described actions of S.H. contain elements of violations of the Criminal Code of BiH, and further activities prescribed by the Law on Criminal Procedure of BiH will be undertaken in accordance with the verification results.

Based on the above, we conclude that the comments in the text are a targeted shifting of responsibility from the suspect of serious violations of official duty to the leadership of the BiH Border Police, and an attempt to create justification and an alibi for the mentioned violations, which will be determined in the appropriate proceedings.

We also want to point out that the BiH Border Police, in order to ensure the most rational exploitation, use, and maintenance of vehicles, plans to renew its vehicle fleet by about 10 percent each year, as increased maintenance costs arise from long-term use.

In 2015, 2,175,934.30 KM was allocated from capital investments of the BiH Border Police for the purchase of vehicles. With these funds, 26 vans, five off-road vehicles, and one mid-size passenger car were purchased. All vehicles were procured in accordance with the provisions of the "Rulebook on the conditions for procurement and method of use of specialized official vehicles in the BiH Border Police" and the "Rulebook on the conditions for procurement and method of use of official vehicles in BiH institutions".

The BiH Border Police is obliged to provide uniforms and their parts for police officers, as prescribed by the valid rulebooks. In 2015, a public procurement procedure for uniforms was carried out with an international announcement. Through the conducted procedure, framework agreements for the procurement of uniforms for a period of four years were concluded: shirts and t-shirts worth 1,893,000 KM, jackets and coats worth 1,090,800 KM, and trousers worth 899,370 KM, excluding VAT.

We suggest that in the future, for timely and truthful public information, the content of texts about the BiH Border Police be checked beforehand with official sources of information within the BiH Border Police. We demand that you publish the denial in its entirety, and we have also informed the Council for Press/Print of BiH about everything.