Dark Past: Lukač Took Money from Parents for Information on Where Their Murdered Son's Body Was!

Despite the fact that the current director of the Federal Police Administration, Dragan Lukač, skillfully resists all complaints filed against him, the Patria news agency received a letter, and through our research, we also obtained a verdict from the Municipal Court in Orašje, which clearly states that Dragan Lukač in the distant 90s took 3,000 KM from the unfortunate Damjanović family to allegedly reveal where the body of their murdered son was!

We are transmitting the letter in its entirety:

Bosnia and Herzegovina is unfortunately a country where crime is on the rise. In our country, there is no punishment for the big fish, more precisely, there are no Sanader, Mišković, Janša... Europe is asking BiH to wage, for its own good, a war against crime and corruption, but...

In BiH, it is possible for officials to be convicted or, better said, to lose court cases, and still remain in their positions. One such person is Dragan Lukač, the current and again illegally appointed director of the FUP.

Who is Dragan Lukač? What is his moral and professional profile?

Back in January 1998, in "Posavski list", journalist Mika Damjanović wrote a series of articles about crime in the Posavina police. The journalist claimed that Dragan Lukač, as the head of the criminal police of the Posavina Canton, allowed two trucks with unknown goods to pass through the border crossing without any police or customs control. The witnesses were police officers who would later be harassed and driven to nervous breakdowns. In the next issue of Posavski glasnik, number 9, 1998, Mika Damjanović addressed the morally unsustainable case of the current FUP director Lukač. Namely, the elderly married couple Martinović from Domaljevac gave 3,000 KM to Lukač to help them find their murdered son, Mile Martinović. The young man's uncle, Marko Oršolić, took the money to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and handed it over in the presence of Lukač's assistant, Marko Dominković.

Why did he take the money?

Lukač later claimed in the court proceedings that the police did not have money for further investigation in the case of Mile Martinović and that he needed money to buy information from an unknown Serb. It is not known who the Serb is to whom Lukač allegedly gave the money of the unfortunate parents, nor were the remains of Martinović's son found within a reasonable time. Namely, the parents wanted to find their dead child before their death, bury him, and bring peace to both their souls and his.

Although Lukač sued journalist Damjanović for defamation, it was proven that he did indeed take money from the parents of the murdered young man. Finally, the details from this trial concern some current facts even today.

Of course, a police officer could not take money from a private individual under any circumstances, and then not record it in the records of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of that canton. Lukač did not report that money. Secondly, after taking the money, he did not inform the family about any investigation in this case, nor to whom he allegedly gave those 3,000 then-current DM.

This court process also reveals details that are unimaginable for a person holding such an important state position.

One of those details concerns the confiscation of a large sum of money at the border crossing from some local Serb, and then an official vehicle was allegedly purchased with that money.

As we said, journalist Damjanović also wrote an article titled "The trucks passed and no one saw them, and then dismissals followed." The journalist accused Lukač of allowing two trucks to pass through the border crossing on April 16, 1997, without police control and customs inspection. In that article, police officers Đuro Ferinčević and Slavko Marić testified to this claim. In the article in Posavski glasnik, number 9, "Suspicion of our police", it was stated that Dragan Lukač bought an apartment in Osijek, indirectly linking it to the release of trucks without control and customs. The judge states: The court determined that the main actor in the presented statement is police officer Josip Petrič. The article states that Petrič bought an apartment for himself in Osijek (Croatia), along with the Deputy Minister of Police, Dragan Lukač.

And who is Josip Petrič?

Lukač recently retired Dragan Vikić and practically forced him into retirement from the position of commander of the Special Unit. Although the public wondered about Lukač's persistence in forcing Vikić into retirement, the answer soon came. Lukač's Posavina colleague Josip Petrič, and his neighbor in their future city – Osijek – took his place.

They settled and registered there at the same time. On the other hand, Lukač himself has accumulated more than 41 years of service, and it later turned out that he erased his service record to remain at the head of the police.

Therefore, none of the accusations against the journalist were refuted in the court proceedings by Lukač, who sued him for defamation. Do we now have a part of the moral profile of the current FUP director?

The abuse of people in the police is a special story. Officials there are submitting evidence that Lukač punished 23 family men by transferring them from Sarajevo to Bihać, Tuzla... Three younger FUP employees have died, with very significant claims from their families about the mobbing they were subjected to.

One of Lukač's more serious attacks concerns his written communication to a senior inspector. Namely, Jozo Anđić, a special forces member who was wounded multiple times in the defense of Sarajevo during the war, applied for the position of Assistant Commander for Security of the Special Unit in 2010. He was by far the best candidate, but then the FUP director canceled the competition for unknown reasons.

In the court proceedings, the verdict was in favor of Anđić. Lukač had to implement the verdict, but he did not, so Anđić filed a criminal complaint against him for non-execution of the court verdict. Then a letter appeared that seemed shocking. The FUP director wrote an order to Edin Vranj, a high-ranking FUP official, to investigate the case.

Vranj forwards the letter to the FUP legal service, and they contact the Prosecutor's Office and the Court. Lukač rudely writes, "Mr. Vranj, I gave you, and then Mr. Hujdurević, the task to file a criminal complaint against Anđić for false reporting. Where do you get the right to tell these people to contact the prosecutor – act immediately according to the order I gave you.

No law, only power in hand

Believe it or not, Lukač is not the main problem in this case. Several people applied for the FUP commissioner position. Among them were four Bosniaks, high-ranking police officials, and three of them had stronger references than Lukač. Yet, these Bosniaks were not even considered. They were not mentioned anywhere as real candidates. Aside from Lukač's completely illegal appointment under some old law, and not the new Law on Internal Affairs, some Bosniak political officials interfered in the entire process. Their candidate was and remains Dragan Lukač. It seems incredible that Bosniaks have been absent from police and security structures and agencies of this country for years.

There was a deputy in SIPA, Rašid Palić, then a process was fabricated against him, and only recently did he barely fight for justice – it was stated in the letter.

Incidentally, as Patria has learned, Lukač has been hiding this story like a snake hides its eggs for years, but the verdict obtained by Patria, and whose facsimile we are publishing, shows that the journalist was right and that Lukač really took 3,000 KM from the parents of the unfortunate young man who was liquidated during the war!