GRECO Report: Election of SIPA and BiH Border Police Chiefs Must Be Transparent, Checks on All Police Officers Needed

(Patria) - BiH has so far satisfactorily fulfilled only two out of a total of 25 recommendations in the Report compiled by the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) of the Council of Europe.

As stated, out of the 23 highlighted recommendations, 15 have been partially implemented, and eight have not been implemented at all.

GRECO also calls for greater transparency in the work of the Council of Ministers of BiH and all ministries, and this particularly applies to information that should be publicly available and more comprehensive regarding the names and areas of responsibility of cabinet chiefs and advisors.

GRECO reminds that the Law on Conflict of Interest was adopted in March 2024, with provisions on accepting gifts, incompatibilities, external activities, post-employment restrictions, and conflicts of interest, that a commission has been established, but has not yet started its work.

The new Law on Freedom of Access to Information was also adopted in August 2023. For some provisions of this Law, it has been determined that they are not in line with the standards of the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents and need to be revised – warned this institution.

They also remind that a unified system for asset and financial interest declarations has been established, and persons in the highest executive positions (PTEFs) should immediately inform the Commission for Deciding on Conflicts of Interest when they become aware of a potential conflict of interest.

– At the same time, several issues remain open, such as introducing rules on how PTEFs interact with lobbyists, measures to make the law-making process more transparent, or ensuring adequate financial and human resources for APIK – they emphasized.

It is necessary, as stated, to establish a unified formalized mechanism for regular integrity checks for all police officers, which relates to potential conflicts of interest.

– Authorities are also expected to take additional measures to guarantee transparency and public oversight of competitions for the appointment of senior management. Additional efforts must be made regarding gender balance, staff rotation, and prevention of conflicts of interest. Furthermore, and not least importantly, the framework for whistleblower protection should be substantially improved – they warned.

Finally, it was concluded that progress should be made within the next 18 months to achieve an adequate level of compliance with these recommendations.

GRECO welcomes the adoption of the Strategy for Combating Corruption 2024-2028 in June 2024 and the accompanying Action Plan for implementation.

Integrity checks have been established for the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, ministers, and deputy ministers, but not for their cabinet chiefs and advisors, nor for the cabinet chiefs and advisors of the members of the BiH Presidency.

GRECO paid special attention to the Border Police and SIPA, for which they state that there are no regular integrity checks or possible conflicts of interest for all police officers. The previous recommendation was to conduct annual random integrity checks on a sample of police officers and to guarantee the keeping of records of identified conflicts of interest.

"GRECO concludes that no progress has been made in establishing a formalized mechanism for regular integrity checks focusing on possible conflicts of interest for all police officers. As for the directors and deputy directors of SIPA and GP BiH, GRECO can only reiterate its previous conclusion that submitting an asset declaration is not equivalent to a full integrity check that must occur before appointment and includes not only financial situation but also external activities, previous employment, third-party connections, inner circle (interests of close family members), and personal relationships. GRECO calls on the authorities to take decisive action in this regard," it is stated, and GRECO concludes that the recommendation has not been implemented.

Regarding the procedure for electing directors and deputy directors of SIPA and the Border Police, conducted by the Independent Board of the BiH Parliament, GRECO believes that the option of publishing candidate biographies or video recordings of interviews could be considered.

"Public oversight of these competitions is crucial to protect the Independent Board from political influence affecting its functioning. GRECO calls on the authorities to establish relevant safeguards without further delay," the report states.