HDZ and SNSD against: Bosnia and Herzegovina needs a law to examine the origin of politicians' assets

Politicians' assets are always an interesting topic, and false information is often found in asset declarations, therefore it is necessary to draft a Law on examining the origin of assets of officials in institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

But is there a chance that Bosnia and Herzegovina will get such a law? Already in September, an Interdepartmental Working Group should be established to draft such a law, and according to the proposal of the Joint Collegium, the members of the Interdepartmental Group would be parliamentarians Amir Fazlić, Aleksandra Pandurević, Predrag Kožul, Safet Softić, Bariša Čolak, and Ognjen Tadić. The Council of Ministers would appoint its three members. The origin of assets of members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, delegates and deputies of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, members of the Council of Ministers, ombudsmen, state prosecutors and judges, and commanders in the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina should be examined. The Interdepartmental Group would have a six-month deadline to draft the law.

However, SNSD and HDZ claim that an Interdepartmental Working Group for drafting the law is not necessary.

Among the opponents of this proposal was Zdenka Džambas (HDZ BiH) from the Club of the Croatian people, stating that forming a commission is "pointless", which she supported with the fact that the Interdepartmental Working Group for drafting the Election Law almost never met because there was no quorum.

- It's pointless. When you have nothing, you form a commission. We have submitted our asset declarations, who will review them, that is up to the court and the prosecutor's office, or whoever. The Interdepartmental Working Group has nothing to do - Džambas said.

While she was speaking, Martin Raguž (HDZ 1990) laughed at her words, and he also voted for the proposed proposal.

Dragutin Rodić from the Club of the Serbian people in the House of Peoples said that this was prompted for daily political purposes.

- I am against the formation of an Interdepartmental Working Group for drafting the Law on examining the origin of assets of officials in institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This should be proposed by the Council of Ministers - Rodić said.

However, in the end, this proposal passed in the House of Peoples, and the deputies of the House of Representatives will also decide on it on September 6.

From non-governmental organizations, they say that the law is necessary and warn that the asset declarations that state officials fill out and sign themselves are not checked by anyone. So it turns out that they can write whatever they want and bear no responsibility, just as no one who fails to submit asset declarations answers to anyone for it.

Furthermore, non-governmental organizations believe that the law on examining the origin of assets of officials in institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina is useless unless the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina is amended to include a provision making illegal enrichment a criminal offense punishable by a fine and imprisonment.