Who is in a hurry to change the Law on Reporting and Verification of Property of Public Officials

SARAJEVO, (Patria) – Four Sarajevo mayors Nedžad Ajnadžić (Centar), Nedžad Koldžo (Novo Sarajevo), Senaid Memić (Ilidža), Semir Efendić (Novi Grad) and the Mayor of Sarajevo Abdulah Skaka have submitted a request to harmonize the Law on Reporting and Verification of Property of Public Officials in Sarajevo Canton with the Opinion of the Constitutional Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The request was submitted at the end of February, when the Prime Minister of Sarajevo Canton was still Edin Forto and the Speaker of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly was Mirza Čelik. After the new Government of Sarajevo Canton was appointed, Prime Minister Mario Nenadić sent an urgent request for action in this case on March 17.

This request was also offered for signature to the Mayor of Stari Grad Municipality, Ibrahim Hadžibajrić, who confirmed to the Patria News Agency that he refused to sign the request.

“I support the Law on Reporting and Verification of Property; citizens should know what the Mayor of Stari Grad Municipality has acquired during his 11-year term. The only thing that perhaps needs to be defined differently is the segment of inheritance, as it was not acquired due to public office. The Law is good, and we voted for it,” Hadžibajrić told Patria.

The law challenged by the mayors from SDA was adopted unanimously in April 2019 with 29 votes from the deputies of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly. After the Constitutional Court of the Federation of BiH delivered its Opinion on certain provisions of the law in July this year, it was used to attack the law.

It should be reminded that at the same time, the Office for Combating Corruption and Quality Management of Sarajevo Canton, which is responsible for implementing this law, issued almost two hundred misdemeanor orders for failure to report property within the legally prescribed period, and checks of property of public officials in Sarajevo Canton are underway. Among them are the signatories of the request.

The Center for Investigative Journalism recently published a study on what certain officials “forgot” to report, and criminal charges will be filed in accordance with the Law for failure to report property.

The Mayor of Centar Municipality, Nedžad Ajnadžić, has repeatedly stated that the Office for Combating Corruption of Sarajevo Canton is not relevant or competent for him. A few days ago, the Municipality of Centar sent an invitation to citizens to submit reports of corruption to the municipality, which will forward them to the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption of Bosnia and Herzegovina. When asked by the Patria News Agency why he bypasses the Office for Combating Corruption of Sarajevo Canton, and whether it is due to personal motives because his property will also be checked as a public official, Mayor Ajnadžić did not respond. He also received a misdemeanor order for failure to report property within the legal deadline.

The former Minister of Justice and Administration of Sarajevo Canton, Lejla Brčić, said after the publication of the Opinion of the Constitutional Court of the Federation of BiH that the Law was not challenged and remains in force.

“Representatives of the European Union Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Embassy of the United States of America, and the OSCE participated in the drafting of the law. The goal was for the Law to be aligned with the standards of the European Union,” said Brčić.

The Opinion of the Constitutional Court of the Federation of BiH states that the area regulated by this law concerns the property data of “close relatives” and “connected persons.”

“This obligation also applies to submitting data on the property of “close relatives” and “connected persons” of public officials. The proposed solutions in the mentioned part of the Law are incomplete and undefined, especially in the part that defines “connected persons” (or any other legal or natural person who is in a personal, political, economic, or other relationship with the public official), because it covers an unknown and undefined number of persons who could be in a personal, political, economic, and other relationship with the public official,” the Opinion of the Constitutional Court of the Federation of BiH states.