Criminal complaint filed over payment of salaries to ministers in detention

(Patria) - We are filing a complaint regarding the payment of salaries to ministers in the Sarajevo Canton Government who have been ordered into detention by the competent court, said Almir Bečarević, President of KV SBIH Sarajevo.

"The reason for this is found in the statement given to the media by Minister Darija Softić Kadenić, in which she claims:

"Ministers in Sarajevo Canton who are in detention still have the right to a salary. This is not the result of a political decision, but a clearly defined legal procedure," claims Darija Softić-Kadenić, Minister of Justice of Sarajevo Canton.

"The law recognizes the institution of temporary or preventive suspension," explains Softić-Kadenić. However, even in that case, the person retains the right to their basic salary, without allowances."

Article 61 of the Law on Civil Service in Sarajevo Canton stipulates preventive suspension based on criminal proceedings, and in this regard, the minister is entirely correct. The law allows for regular salary payments while in detention. Regardless of how long the detention lasts, the basic salary is paid during that entire period.

What the minister consciously ignores in her statement is that this possibility applies ONLY TO CIVIL SERVANTS.

Article 9, paragraph (1) of the Law stipulates that persons who are not civil servants and whose employment status is regulated by other regulations include: members of the Canton Assembly, members of the Canton Government, judges of the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo, cantonal prosecutors, etc.

As we can see from the cited provision, members of the Canton Government are not civil servants and therefore Article 61 of the Law and the possibility of preventive suspension do not apply to them.

To be clear, ministers in the Sarajevo Canton Government cannot receive a salary and be in a detention unit, because no regulation governs this or provides for such a possibility. The Law on the Government of Sarajevo Canton and the Rules of Procedure of the Government of Sarajevo Canton are the regulations that apply to the employment status of government members, and they do not provide for the possibility of preventive suspension as they do for civil servants. What is particularly interesting is that the law and the rules of procedure do not even provide for the possibility of criminal proceedings or procedures for government members, and therefore not for suspension from the position of a government member.

All salary payments to ministers who were in or are currently in detention are paid illegally and without any legal basis. This causes direct material damage to the budget of Sarajevo Canton.

The minister's statement and the disregard for a clear regulation on who preventive suspension can apply to show that the Sarajevo Canton Government, instead of sanctioning ministers suspected of committing criminal offenses and who have been ordered into detention, is committing further offenses by paying salaries and causing damage to the budget of Sarajevo Canton. Through her statement, the minister might think that the entire public is illiterate and cannot read legal regulations, so she is trying to convince the public through the media that preventive suspension can also be applied to ministers in detention.

To be perfectly clear, with this complaint, we do not wish to put anyone in a disadvantageous position, including ministers in detention, but the law must be applied as prescribed, not in a way that it is applied contrary to its purpose or becomes the subject of intentional or unintentional abuse.

We understand that being a minister is difficult, and not being one is even more difficult, and therefore every minister is responsible for their work or inaction, which can result in detention. By being ordered into detention, a minister is not at their workplace, and no regulation stipulates that they can receive a salary during that time.

The complaint is being filed publicly because damage is being done to the budget of Sarajevo Canton, and the public should be informed of all actions that are not in accordance with the law.

The current government boasts that it is a textbook example of transparency and legality in its work, so let the public judge for themselves how true this is, Bečarević concluded.