KAJGANIĆ'S ELECTION How did Admir Suljagić's official trip change Halil Lagumdžija's mind?

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Last month's official trip by Admir Suljagić to Laktaši and Banja Luka determined the majority in the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (VSTV) that appointed Milanko Kajganić as the Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH. On that trip, the Director of the VSTV Secretariat promised judicial staff from Republika Srpska that he would convince Halil Lagumdžija to change his stance regarding Kajganić's election, writes Istraga.ba

"Leave me alone," Halil Lagumdžija will write to an Istraga journalist in response to a question about whether he had started lobbying for Milanko Kajganić, against whose appointment he was recently opposed.

We say, was opposed. Because as long as Admir Suljagić had not traveled to Banja Luka and Laktaši, Lagumdžija was assuring his friends and colleagues in the VSTV that Kajganić would not pass. Then came the agreement with Srđan Forca, a member of the VSTV from Banja Luka and the informal "boss" of Serb staff in the VSTV.

The story begins at a session of the Sub-Council for the Election of the Chief State Prosecutor. The President of the VSTV, Halil Lagumdžija, after the competition closed, was a member of the Commission that conducted interviews with the candidates. At that time, according to Istraga's information, he gave top scores to Milanko Kajganić and Miroslav Janjić in order to, as he explained to his colleagues, maintain neutrality. Kajganić, thanks to the votes of Srđan Forca and Snježana Petković, overtook Janjić, but at the Sub-Council session, by a majority vote, Milanko Kajganić was ranked first with 131.4 points. In second place, after Forca and Petković drastically reduced his scores, was Miroslav Janjić. He was only 1.6 points behind Kajganić. Given that the evaluation process was contaminated, the President of the VSTV, Halil Lagumdžija, proposed annulling the competition at the session. Srđan Forca and Snježana Petković were against it, but other VSTV members supported Lagumdžija's proposal. However, the President of the VSTV soon had a conversation with Admir Suljagić and decided to change his mind.

"You have no m...", VSTV member Mustafa Šabić will tell Lagumdžija, after the Council President changed his mind on the eve of the September session.

Although he proposed annulling the competition the day before the session, Lagumdžija changed his mind after a conversation with his "mentor" Admir Suljagić, and proposed to the Council members to vote on Milanko Kajganić for the October session.

"There was no pressure to appoint Kajganić," Halil Lagumdžija said after the VSTV session.

But then why did the President of the VSTV change his mind three times in thirty days?

First, we remind you, as a member of the Commission for the Election of the Chief Prosecutor, he gave the highest scores to Kajganić and Janjić, assuring colleagues that this was part of his strategy that would result in Milanko Kajganić being removed from the race for the Chief Prosecutor of the BiH Prosecutor's Office. Already the following week, at the end of September, Lagumdžija proposed annulling the competition for the election of the Chief Prosecutor. However, that's when Admir Suljagić enters the scene, who, through Drina Galičić, his friend from projects and the EU Delegation, manages to secure "international support" to speed up the process of electing the Chief Prosecutor of the BiH Prosecutor's Office. Therefore, Lagumdžija changes his stance at the VSTV session itself.

"Gentlemen, I do not wish to participate in such a cheaply directed film. Please, annul it, do whatever you want," said VSTV member Sanin Bogunić at the last VSTV session, addressing President Halil Lagumdžija directly.

And when he had to choose between VSTV members and Admir Suljagić, Lagumdžija chose the latter. At today's VSTV session, he voted for the appointment of Milanko Kajganić as Chief Prosecutor. Besides Lagumdžija, Kajganić was mainly supported by staff from RS gathered around Srđan Forca, with whom Suljagić had agreed on numerous appointments in the past period. Forca, as we have published several times, is related by family to the fugitive war criminal Ljuban Ećim, who is connected to the Serbian underworld. Milanko Kajganić, appointed today, according to footage published by Istraga last year, was involved in the mission to rescue General Milomir Savčić, accused of committing genocide in Srebrenica. However, this did not bother Suljagić and Lagumdžija. On the contrary.

Istraga.ba will publish internal VSTV documents in the coming days related to the appointment process, which will prove how Suljagić, Forca, and Lagumdžija conducted the appointments of judicial office holders in BiH.