How the FBiH Government is rigging the tender for the Deputy Director of the FBiH Banking Agency

(Patria) - Former Federal Minister of Finance Jelka Milićević will be the new Deputy Director of the FBiH Banking Agency, the portal Istraga.ba announced about fifteen days ago, citing sources from the FBiH Government.

The fact that the tender for this position is just a mere formality is also proven by the adaptation of the "special conditions" for the profile of the former HDZ minister, who was acquitted of all charges in the "Respirators" case by the Court of BiH.

In short, all the special conditions that were required for the election of the Deputy Director of the Banking Agency in 2015 have been - deleted from the tender for the same position in 2024.

The photo below shows the tender for the election of the Director and Deputy Director of the FBiH Banking Agency, published on October 21, 2015.



As can be seen, the special conditions for the election and appointment of the Director and Deputy Director of the Agency stated that candidates must have at least five years of experience in bank supervision or banking after obtaining a university degree (economics faculty), possess specialized knowledge in banking supervision, and have passive knowledge of the English language.

And the photo below this paragraph shows the tender from March 2024, announced by the Government of the Federation of BiH.



Although at first glance the special conditions seem more rigorous, the key conditions have "disappeared". These are the "special conditions": University degree - VII degree of education, or first cycle higher education (valued at 240 ECTS credits) or second or third cycle of the Bologna study system in economics; at least five years of experience in a management position in the financial sector; to have gained a reputation as an expert in the field of finance and to possess high moral qualities for performing entrusted functions.

Therefore, "five years of banking experience", "specialized knowledge in banking supervision", and "passive knowledge of the English language" are no longer required. Precisely these three "special conditions" are not met by Jelka Milićević, so the Government of the Federation of BiH decided to delete them and adapt the tender to the candidate who has essentially already been appointed.

"The Director and Deputy Director of the Banking Agency of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, after a previously conducted public tender procedure in accordance with the law, are appointed by the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina for a period of four years, with the possibility of appointment for two consecutive terms, upon the proposal of the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina," it is stated in Article 22, Paragraph (2) of the Law on the Banking Agency of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The FBiH Government, according to the announcement in the Official Gazette of FBiH, appointed a Commission for conducting the selection procedure of candidates for the election and nomination for the appointment of the Deputy Director of the Banking Agency of FBiH on March 13 this year.

"A Commission for conducting the selection procedure of candidates for the election and nomination for the appointment of the Deputy Director of the Banking Agency of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is appointed, consisting of: Asim Pandžić, president; Sanja Zadro, member; Medina Dudo, member; Arijana Huseinović - Ajanović, member; Marica Bulić, member. Dženana Redžić is assigned to perform professional and administrative-technical tasks for the needs of the Commission.

The task of the Commission is to, after the closure of the public tender, review the applications received for the tender, compile a shortlist of candidates who meet the criteria for nomination for appointment, collect additional information about the candidates if necessary, interview the candidates, and after that, propose a ranking list of the best candidates to the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina for further consideration," it is stated in the Decision of the FBiH Government dated March 13.

This Commission, as Istraga.ba learns, has the obligation to compile a list of candidates according to which the former HDZ Minister of Finance, Jelka Milićević, will be ranked highest, after which the FBiH Government will submit a proposal to the FBiH Parliament to appoint her as the Deputy Director of the Banking Agency of FBiH.