Collapse of the FUP and the ceremonial retirement of Lukač

Written by Amra Varatanović

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A retirement send-off for the Director of the Federal Police Administration (FUP), Dragan Lukač, was organized this week at the Police House. He submitted his written resignation to the Independent Board of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, informing them that he is stepping down from the position of director effective January 28.

Lukač was sent into retirement (although he should have done so five years ago) by the Minister of Interior Aljoša Čampara, Federal Prime Minister Fadil Novalić, Director of the Intelligence-Security Agency Osman Mehmedagić, and police commissioners from cantonal Interior Ministries.

Čampara spoke about Lukač's professional attitude and his police skills. The minister praised: „This contribution is reflected in the good work results achieved by the FUP, continuously, year after year, which is especially evident in the increased number of submitted reports on committed criminal offenses, which is the best result since the establishment of the Police Administration.“ Is Čampara even competent to speak about the qualities of police work? Even if the information that the „number of submitted reports on committed criminal offenses is the best result since the establishment of the Police Administration“ is accurate, nothing more has been done beyond that. Everything else has remained mere statistics.

The fundamental mission of the FUP is the fight against organized crime, and we do not recall any significant arrest operations in the Federation related to corruption, drugs, or other forms of crime.

In April 2017, Lukač announced: „... police commissioners, led by me as the director of the FUP, are ready to do our job more and better in order to create a safe atmosphere so that every citizen feels safe.“ After that, several murders occurred in the Federation that remain unsolved, including the murders of two Sarajevo police officers, whose perpetrators have not been found to this day.

The manner of the sale of the Sarajevo Tobacco Factory remains shrouded in secrecy to this day. It is spoken of as one of the biggest corruption scandals in the Federation after the war. Instead of an investigation, Lukač and the FUP arrested several individuals last June suspected of removing and reselling tobacco from the FDS. Over the past years, the FUP has repeatedly arrested Salafis in the Federation. Those arrests regularly ended in acquittals, and those arrested subsequently filed high compensation claims against the state. The entire year of 2018 passed with announcements of Lukač's resignation. More attention was paid to that than to the fight against crime that the FUP was supposed to lead together with the cantonal Interior Ministries.

The end of Dragan Lukač's second term was also marked by cases opened against him by the State Prosecutor's Office and the Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton. The State Prosecutor's Office is conducting checks regarding possible abuse of position or authority by Director Lukač, because in mid-April 2018, he refused to forward information he received from the Intelligence-Security Agency in the case of the murder of Ramiz Delalić Ćelo.

The Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton, on the other hand, is investigating how Lukač, even though the Independent Board of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina determined four years ago that he had already met the conditions for retirement and should have been retired by force of law, regularly received his salary, thereby obtaining illegal property gain and damaging the Federation's budget by hundreds of thousands of marks just from his salary. And that is without salary supplements and contributions.

The head of the FUP is also accused of using that police agency to settle scores with political opponents. SDP BiH representative in the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nermin Nikšić, spent months seeking answers to questions about who the FUP is wiretapping, whether only SDP BiH members are being investigated, who is abusing their position within the FUP and how, why police officers are being punished, etc.

A number of reports have also been filed against Lukač with the Sarajevo Prosecutor's Office for abuse of official position. Employees who reported the director state in their reports: A complete internal reorganization of the Federal Police has been carried out, there is transfer and demotion of personnel, promotion based on suitability rather than ability, and funds are being spent uncontrollably.
After eight years of Lukač leading the agency, does the FUP even have the strength to seriously tackle serious crime?

And at the ceremonial send-off, Lukač was also presented with a pistol for special contribution and merit in service. 

Given that the Independent Board has only requested an opinion from the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council on a possible conflict of interest of three members of the Independent Board who are to elect a new director of the FUP, it was concluded that the session be adjourned pending the HJPC's statement. In this regard, Lukač's resignation was „noted,“ but it was not forwarded to either the Minister of Interior of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina or the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.