How Krivić and Marjanović Committed Irregularities in the Distribution of 500,000 KM from the KS Budget

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Ministry of Education, Science, and Youth of Sarajevo Canton published a public call on June 12, 2020, for co-financing scientific research/artistic research and research and development projects from the Sarajevo Canton Budget for 2020, which allocated the amount of 500,000 KM. After the procedure was completed, the Ministry first published a preliminary list of recipients on its website on December 11, 2020, and then a final list on December 29, 2020.

It is an open secret in academic circles that numerous irregularities were committed during the public call process, some of which constitute serious violations of the law. Namely, the actions of the Ministry and the commission that reviewed the applications indicate that the distribution of budget funds in the amount of 500,000 KM was carried out contrary to the Decision of the Government of Sarajevo Canton No.: 02-04-13850-8/20 dated May 28, 2020, and the provisions of the public call itself. The responsible persons for the expenditure of funds are the former Minister of Education, Science, and Youth, M.Sc. Anis Krivić, and the members of the Commission for the Implementation of the Public Call Procedure, Prof. Dr. Damir Marjanović, Prof. Dr. Mirza Dautbašić, Prof. Dr. Haris Alić, Prof. Dr. Azrudin Husika, Prof. Dr. Arzija Pašalić, Prof. Dr. Dženana Husremović, Asst. Prof. Dr. Amila Ramović, and Adisa Hota, an employee of the Ministry.

Kukuruz Excluded from Commission Work

It is interesting that Adisa Hota, as a professional advisor, participated in the commission's work as a representative of the Ministry, and not Sifet Kukuruz, as the Assistant Minister for Higher Education and Science. It is an open secret that Kukuruz was excluded from participating in all important processes during Krivić's term, based on the wishes of individuals from the academic and political communities. Those who are well-acquainted with the events in the Ministry claim that Kukuruz was not even on the bench for "substitute players" but observed the outcome of the situation from the stands, while Adisa Hota was the first choice of Minister Krivić and his sponsors.

Thus, along with Minister Krivić, Hota regularly participated in important Ministry meetings, took the lead in matters of employment at the University of Sarajevo, resolved requests for the establishment of private universities, and, as needed, attended sessions of the Sarajevo Canton Government with Krivić. With the appointment of Marjanović's minister, Prof. Dr. Melika Husić-Mehmedović, to the head of the Ministry, Kukuruz was placed on the "transfer list," and Elmedin Konaković and Vedran Jakupović from Narod i Pravda were appointed as the main managers for the transfer. It is known to the public that Jakupović, communicating with other deputies in the Sarajevo Canton Assembly via a "Viber group," announced that Kukuruz would be transferred to the Ministry of Communal Affairs during the winter transfer window and that everything had already been agreed upon. This kind of "political-academic climate" that existed in the Ministry during Anis Krivić's term did not provide fertile ground for Kukuruz, who was also excluded from the "money transfer" process, which was carried out precisely through the public call for co-financing scientific research projects.

Commission Considered and Evaluated Irregular Applications

One of the serious omissions in the commission's work is that funds were approved for applicants whose applications were not formally and legally in order and should not have been considered at all, as well as for applicants who did not meet the provisions of the Government's decision of May 28, 2020, and the public call. Instead of rejecting certain applications as irregular due to identified shortcomings and deficiencies, the Commission considered and scored them, and Minister Krivić, upon the commission's proposal, decided to award them funds.

Furthermore, in a number of cases, the Commission accepted projects where the project leader did not meet the conditions defined by the Government's decision on determining the purpose, criteria, and method of distributing funds for supporting scientific research activities in the Sarajevo Canton for 2020. This specifically means that applicants whose project leaders did not meet the criteria regarding the number of published scientific papers in relevant international databases were eligible for funding. The incompleteness and irregularity of the applications that were considered and for which funds were approved were documented by some applicants who did not receive funding and who submitted a request to the Ministry for access to the project documentation in accordance with the Law on Free Access to Information in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Based on the information gathered after accessing the project documentation, some project leaders officially pointed out the commission's procedural errors to Minister Krivić, but he ignored such remarks.

Minister Krivić Ignored Objections and Evidence of Irregularities Committed

Based on the objections filed against the preliminary list, Minister Krivić issued decisions rejecting the objections as unfounded or dismissing them because they were filed by the project leader, not by the dean of the faculty where the project leader is employed. However, the fact that an objection was dismissed because it was filed by an unauthorized person cannot absolve Minister Krivić of the obligation to, based on the evidence submitted with the objection, not approve the allocation of funds to applicants whose applications were not formally and legally in order or where the project leader did not meet the conditions of the Sarajevo Canton Government's decision and the public call. The lack of transparency in the entire process is also confirmed by the fact that the final ranking list was published without the objectors having received Minister Krivić's decisions as the second-instance authority on the timely filed objections beforehand.

Individuals Decided, Not the Commission
 
What is particularly interesting is that the commission did not evaluate and score the scientific research projects as a collective body, but only individual members of the commission did so. This was confirmed by Adisa Hota, a member of the commission and an employee of the Ministry, who, in conversations with applicants, explained the commission's working method by stating that applications were evaluated only by individual members, depending on the scientific group to which the project belonged. The accuracy of this statement was also confirmed by reviewing the evaluation forms, which are an integral part of the documentation resulting from the commission's work and which were made available to applicants who requested access to information. Since applications were evaluated and scored only by some, not all, members of the commission, it follows that the scientific research projects were evaluated and scored subjectively, meaning the preliminary and final ranking lists cannot be valid, as they represent the sum of all commission members' scores. Furthermore, commission member Adisa Hota, as she explained to interested applicants, did not score or evaluate project applications at all based on previously established criteria and benchmarks. All of this indicates that individuals from the commission abused the commission's work and created the list of fund recipients based on their personal opinions. This way of working completely undermines the existence and functioning of the commission, which served individuals merely to present their own decisions as the commission's decisions.

The Commission, That's Me

The information provided by commission member Adisa Hota, the Ministry's contact person, to project leaders who did not receive funding was that scientific research projects were not reviewed and evaluated by the commission as a collective body, but exclusively by individual commission members as representatives of scientific groups.

This procedure is in direct contradiction to point III of the Government's Decision of May 28, 2020, and the provisions of the public call, which clearly and precisely define that the Commission is authorized "to, in the process of evaluating submitted applications, in addition to determining their timeliness, completeness, and regularity, also evaluate the scientific research and artistic research development potential and relevance of the project in relation to the criteria and conditions established by the Public Call and, accordingly, score the project.".

It is quite clear that with this wording, the Government stipulated that the Commission, as a collective body, not individual members, should evaluate and score the submitted projects. However, since this was not the case, it is clear that the preliminary and final ranking lists of fund recipients are not the result of the evaluation and scoring of projects by all commission members, but exclusively by some of its members.

Adisa Hota confirmed to interested project leaders that projects were scored only by individual commission members, depending on which scientific group the project could be classified into, but also that she, as a commission member, did not participate in scoring and evaluating projects at all. This procedure constitutes a violation of the Government's decision and the public call's provisions, as the decision appointing the commission does not state that any commission member is exempt from work in the commission or has fewer rights than other members. In the process of direct inspection of project applications in accordance with the Law on Free Access to Information, some project leaders themselves verified that the evaluation forms were filled out and signed by only one member of the commission. The question arises as to how it is possible for the commission, as a collective body, to previously establish criteria and benchmarks for project evaluation, and then for commission members not to be able to, based on the criteria and benchmarks they voted for, perform the evaluation and scoring of projects.

Commission Applied the Methodology of "Prophetess Džemila" and "Torabi Diagnosis" in its Work

The claim that applications were not evaluated by the commission as a body, but exclusively by individual commission members, is also confirmed by the fact that commission meetings were held online. Therefore, it is entirely reasonable to ask how it is possible for all commission members to analyze and evaluate submitted projects if the meetings are held online. How is it possible to review a scientific research project online and perform its evaluation in accordance with the adopted benchmarks and criteria if commission members do not have the opportunity for direct access to the project application but "meet" online?

The answer to this question should be sought in the unsuccessful fusion of traditional and modern scientific methodology, which encompasses a traditional philosophical approach based on contemplation and a modern scientific approach that requires the scientist's dedication to the research task, whereby the scientist must give their all to achieve the desired result. Everything indicates that the principle of giving and taking was also applied in the distribution of budget funds in this case.

The dedication of scientist Damir Marjanović, who was also the chairman of the commission, resulted in such a distribution of funds that, as a scientist, after successfully completing the task, he had nothing left to do but exclaim "eureka" like Archimedes! This distribution of funds for scientific research projects unmasked the modern scientists gathered in an interest group led by Damir Marjanović, whose shame would hardly be washed away by the water in which Archimedes bathed at the moment of his great scientific discovery, or by the specially energy-enriched water with which the Moroccan healer Mekki Torabi generously treated gullible Sarajevans in the Zetra hall.

An argument indicating that the commission was formed as an "interest group" tasked with "pushing through" certain projects that would certainly not have been selected through a regular procedure is the fact that more than half of the commission members do not possess the scientific references, neither in quantity nor in scientometric quality parameters, that were required by the public call itself. The absurdity of the situation reaches its peak considering that scientists who themselves do not meet the public call's requirements are deciding on project applications.

Damir Marjanović (Photo/Archive)

Project Applications "Fed" at the Forestry Faculty

Since the activities related to the public call for co-financing scientific research projects were carried out during the pandemic caused by the coronavirus, the commission needed appropriate space and an environment where it could dedicate itself to the task. The choice fell on the Faculty of Forestry, whose very mention had a strong psychologically calming effect on the commission, while the workspace simultaneously provided the commission members with a sense of security, as it offered them the possibility of identifying with the natural environment. However, the question arises: what is the commission doing at the Faculty of Forestry, and why are meetings not held in the Ministry's premises?

The answer to this question lies in the fact that the submitted projects were handled with "great caution," as if they were doses of COVID-19 vaccines, transported from the Ministry's premises to the Faculty of Forestry, without respecting the procedures for removing official documentation from the Ministry's premises at all. In this way, the entire process of distributing budget funds was irreversibly compromised, as it left an objective possibility for manipulating project documentation.

Faculty of Forestry UNSA (Photo Archive)

Such conduct necessitates asking who allowed the documentation to be removed from the official premises of the Ministry, for what period, under what conditions, and how was the integrity of the applications ensured? The fate of the applications after their relocation remains an enigma, unless one considers the fact that the commission meetings were held online. What is certain is that the applications, from the constitutive meeting of the commission until the publication of the final ranking list of fund recipients, were outside the official premises of the Ministry. Information circulating among the employees of the Faculty of Forestry indicates that the applications, after being deposited at the Faculty of Forestry, were taken out and physically carried away by individual commission members to evaluate them, and then the applications were returned to the Faculty of Forestry or directly submitted to the Ministry of Education, Science, and Youth and handed over to the Ministry employee Adisa Hota.

Projects Supported Whose Implementation Has Not Begun at All

It should be pointed out that, according to the final ranking list of recipients, projects were supported contrary to the Decision of the Government of Sarajevo Canton No.: 02-04-13850-8/20 dated May 28, 2020, because the implementation of the submitted projects did not begin in 2020, even though one of the conditions from the Sarajevo Canton Government's decision and the public call was that "the project implementation must begin in 2020 and be completed by the end of 2021.".

The logical question arises: how is it possible to allocate funds for projects if the final list of recipients was published only two days before the end of 2020, i.e., on December 29, 2020? According to the information we have, contracts with the fund recipients were not concluded by December 31, 2020, nor have they been yet. This indicates that funds were allocated for projects contrary to the Government's decision because their implementation did not begin in 2020. Based on this situation, it is clear that the funds were illegally allocated, but also that the applicants illegally received the right to funding, which points to the responsibility of Minister Krivić, the appointed Commission, and the recipients of the funds themselves.

Minister Melika Husić-Mehmedović Fulfilling Marjanović's Wishes

Since Minister Krivić and the commission were late in completing the public call procedure in 2020, activities were initiated immediately after the appointment of the new Government to secure the allocated funds in the Sarajevo Canton Budget for 2021. The task of implementing this was given to the newly appointed minister, Melika Husić-Mehmedović, by Damir Marjanović. However, the question arises: is it even possible to secure and allocate budget funds for projects that, according to the Government's decision and the public call, had to start in 2020? The minister, who is faced with the obligation to respect the law but also with Damir Marjanović's insistence that the Ministry and the Government secure 500,000 KM in the KS Budget for 2021 to make payments in accordance with the final ranking list, will have to answer this question. It is more than obvious that this issue is not just a topic for the newly appointed minister to consider, but that the budget inspection and investigative bodies should also address it.

Is Marjanović the Chairman of the "Famous" Commission?

Proof that there were serious malversations in the process of approving funds is the existence of two decisions on the appointment of the commission, with the same number and date. In one decision, Damir Marjanović is listed as the Chairman of the Commission, and in the other, Prof. Dr. Mirza Dautbašić is the Chairman of the Commission. Since there are two decisions with the same number and date, it is unclear who is officially the Chairman of the Commission and who is responsible for its work. Given that Marjanović is publicly known for his pretensions to interfere and have a say in everything, it is not excluded that through his position and work in the commission, he sought to exert decisive influence and dominance, but at one point realized that this could harm his fiction, which he persistently tries to build in the public space as an example of a "moral pillar.".

However, the entire work of the commission indicates that the change in position clearly did not lead to a change in his plans and ultimate intentions. It is evident that the virus mutations that Marjanović scientifically unsuccessfully deals with have also accompanied the transformations of his status and overall influence in the field of education, including in the work of the commission. It is enough to recall Marjanović's membership in the expert body appointed by the Sarajevo Canton Government in 2019 to lead the reform processes in the educational system of Sarajevo Canton for the next three-year period, to his membership in the Assembly Commission for Science and Education, a position he used to nominate himself as a representative of the assembly commission to the commission for evaluating scientific research projects. The fascinating and unpredictable mutation of Marjanović, through various phases of influence in education, has not affected his fundamental and recognizable characteristic, which is personal benefit. A review of the final ranking list reveals that two applications from Burch University, where Marjanović is employed, are among the recipients, and project leaders who did not receive funding claim that these applications do not meet some of the public call's conditions. Therefore, the basic epidemiological measure that must be urgently applied for the recovery of the education sector is strict distancing of Marjanović from influence in education and science, especially distancing from budget funds.

Minister Krivić and the Commission Lost in Time, but Found Themselves in the Public Call Results

The public call, published on June 12, 2020, stipulated that the commission appointed by the Minister of Education, Science, and Youth would publish a preliminary list of fund recipients on the Ministry's website within 30 days of the closure of the Public Call, which was not respected. According to the public call's provisions, the deadline for submitting applications was 30 days from the date of the public call's publication, meaning July 12, 2020, from which the period for the commission to publish preliminary results of the public call began.

It also follows that the deadline for publishing the Preliminary List was August 12, 2020, which indicates that Minister Krivić and the Commission deviated from the public call's provisions. Namely, the Commission was appointed only on September 25, 2020, and the preliminary list was published on December 11, 2020. The importance of the deadlines set by the public call was fully justified, given that the Sarajevo Canton Government's decision of May 28, 2020, on the distribution of funds and the public call itself stipulated that funds could only be allocated for projects whose implementation would begin in 2020 and be completed by 2021.

The question arises: how is it possible to allocate budget funds for projects if the final list of recipients was published only on December 29, 2020, if the project implementation has not yet begun, and contracts with the fund recipients have not yet been signed?

It is evident that the coming days will be extremely turbulent for the newly appointed minister and extremely bleak for the fund recipients, especially if, as is quite realistic, investigative bodies become involved in the non-transparent spending of budget funds. Until then, a bitter taste remains due to the fact that individuals who simultaneously wish to present themselves as scientific, political, and moral authorities use every opportunity to infiltrate the system like a virus and, under the guise of public interest, achieve personal gain.