Border Police of BiH publishes list of cadets from controversial competition, new appeals filed by aggrieved candidates

(Patria) - The admission process for 150 cadets under the competition announced in 2020 is still not finalized by the Border Police of BiH. Following the affair in September 2021, when the list of admitted cadets was published and the president of the Cadet Admission Commission, Rejhan Raković, was arrested for demanding money from candidates for admission to the Border Police of BiH through another employee of the Border Police of BiH and an intermediary, the final list saw the light of day at the beginning of April (April 3).

Candidates' appeals followed that list. In response to Patria's inquiry about the number of candidates on the list, how many candidates are missing from the previous list from September 2021, and what about the candidates who turned 35 between 2021 and 2023, we received the following answer:

"We inform you that the appeal procedure is currently underway before the second-instance body, i.e., the Police Officers' Appeals Committee. After the appeal procedure is concluded, we will be able to provide more information," stated the Border Police of BiH.

A group of employees of the Border Police of BiH filed a criminal complaint with the Prosecutor's Office of BiH regarding this competition and against the members of the Police Officers' Appeals Committee, as well as a complaint to the HJPC against judge Sena Uzunović, who did not order the annulment of the competition.

The competition has been, to say the least, contaminated from the very beginning and even before the publication of the final list, as information indicated manipulations with test scores of certain candidates. It is surprising that prosecutor Bojana Jolović did not request the annulment of this competition either. A new procedure could have been implemented by now, thus partially relieving the responsibility of the Border Police management and the new director, Mirko Kuprešaković. In this case, when the Police Officers' Appeals Committee also decided to publish the controversial competition, i.e., the lists, without those candidates who admitted to giving money and testified in court, the story about the fight against corruption falls apart. Witnesses who testified and were not indicted have been removed from the list, so it is unclear why they are not on the final list.

Raković is no longer an employee of the Border Police of BiH, and court proceedings are underway at the Court of BiH. Ensara Salčinović and Kenita Čakić are also being tried along with Raković, while three other defendants have signed plea agreements. One of them is Ivica Sabljo, who was a member of the Cadet Admission Commission, and despite admitting guilt, he was acquitted of disciplinary responsibility in the Disciplinary Proceedings at the Border Police of BiH.

"By continuing this competition, the reputation of the Border Police has been completely undermined, we have completely lost the trust of citizens, no one will testify anymore that money was demanded from them for admission to the Border Police of BiH, let alone that they gave money, because, as they know from what has been done, they will be rejected if they do so," it is stated in the complaint to the HJPC by a group of border police officers.

Furthermore, the complaint states that it is an open secret that there are still candidates among those who gave money but remained silent about it and waited for the competition to continue.

"If you do not conduct checks on why judge Uzunović did not order the annulment of the competition and do not correct that mistake, you will completely legalize the crime committed in this competition," it is stated in the letter addressed to the HJPC.