Halilović: The Chief Federal Prosecutor is superior to the head of USKOK

(Patria) - Chief Federal Prosecutor Munib Halilović was a guest tonight on the show "7Plus" on Hayat TV.

He spoke about what the Special Department for the Fight against Corruption and Organized Crime brings, and what it actually means for the overall judiciary in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

- The Federal Prosecutor's Office has two departments - the Department of General Jurisdiction and the Special Department for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime. This Special Department was established by law about ten years ago, but it has not been implemented until now.

It is essentially a second-instance body within the Prosecutor's Office in relation to the cantonal ones. At the same time, it is a fully-capacitated prosecutor's office, as it will conduct investigations and be able to file an indictment or issue a negative decision after the investigation is completed.

It is also important to note that this prosecutor's office will appear before the Supreme Court, specifically before a special department. Thus, prosecutors can only act before that department, and the judges of that department are judges only of that department in the first-instance proceedings.

In the event of an appeal, the second-instance court is the Supreme Court of the Federation, so there is a specificity that two proceedings will be conducted before the same court - Halilović explains the functionality and organization of the work of the special department of the Prosecutor's Office and its handling in terms of initiating investigations, as well as appearing before judges during the proceedings.

Halilović adds that this specificity, despite some critical tones, should not pose a problem.

Answering a question about the relationship between the chief federal prosecutor and the chief prosecutor of the Special Department for the Suppression of Corruption, Halilović says:

"It is important to emphasize that the Special Department has a significant degree of autonomy, even in relation to the chief federal prosecutor, but it must be said that it is not in all segments of its work independent and autonomous in relation to the chief prosecutor, because he still manages that department, but is accountable for his work to the chief federal prosecutor.

In practice, the Head of the Department will initial the draft indictment prepared by his prosecutor if he agrees to proceed with the case. If he disagrees as the Head of the Department, the prosecutor, according to a special rulebook, submits his opinion to the chief federal prosecutor, who then obtains an expert opinion from the College of Prosecutors and makes a final and binding decision on the fate of that indictment.

Thus, there is a system of subordination despite the significant autonomy given in the work to the chief prosecutor and prosecutors of the special department in the fight against corruption and organized crime - Halilović states.

He also emphasizes that the official start of work of this department can be expected no later than the beginning of April, considering the legally prescribed deadlines for appeals.

- Once we have a final start date, we will also make a plan for taking over cases from the cantonal prosecutor's offices, and from that moment on, no judge or prosecutor at the cantonal level will have anything more to do with those cases if they are in the investigative phase.

For all cases where an indictment has already been filed, there is no question of them being taken over by the special department of the Federal Prosecutor's Office - Halilović adds.