Coroner of BiH Judiciary

SIPA inspector Marko Pandža was questioned on Thursday at the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was secretly filmed by businessman Nermin Alešević from Velika Kladuša while giving him money, which Pandža said would be used to "shoe" the President of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH, Milan Tegeltija, and that Tegeltija would in turn expedite Alešević's case at the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office in Sarajevo. This, according to the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, constitutes abuse of official position and corrupt activity of the highest degree.

Although the recording was published on May 21, it took the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina a full 17 days to summon Pandža to, well, tell his side of what happened on that unfortunate day at a Banja Luka parking lot, when "political-paraintelligence structures" exploited Pandža's inclination toward taking bribes and, with the help of cameraman and amateur Nermin Alešević, documented the corruption, all again for the purpose of "establishing full control over the judiciary," "and then engaging in a showdown with political dissidents."

Namely, Alešević reported to the Sarajevo Prosecutor's Office that former and current high-ranking political officials Adnan Terzić and Amir Avdić had taken a loan from Bobar Bank, and in return had mortgaged a property of Agrokomerc in Velika Kladuša, where Alešević leases space for his company "Airvent," which manufactures cooling devices. Alešević would later discover that this report had been gathering dust in prosecutor Dalida Burzić's drawer for over two years, and could remain there for at least another 102 years without anything significant happening. Then Alešević tried to expedite the case through the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, the country's top judicial institution, but found that for that, under a), he had to meet Tegeltija's godfather Vlado, and under b), he had to pay at least 2,000 KM to inspector Pandža. Shocked and appalled, Alešević documented the entire case of corruption of the highest security and judicial institutions in the country on camera, but then discovered even more shocking details – all 15 members of the HJPC, despite the published recording and public protests, unanimously support President Tegeltija, "because they themselves have been victims of similar attempts at discreditation on several occasions." Although in democratic countries officials resign even over rumors, in BiH they remain in office even when evidence is presented.

Lawyer Senad Pećanin got involved in the entire case. He tried to restore hope in BiH's judiciary by requesting from the management board of the Bar Association of FBiH that they demand all HJPC members resign, threatening that lawyers would go on strike if the demands were not met, "because we must not remain silent observers of yet another nail being driven into the coffin in which the lawful work of judicial bodies and institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been buried for years." It was then revealed that lawyers also fully support the work of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH and that they do not wish to accept Pećanin's proposal.

Although this had been discussed before, Alešević – knowingly or unknowingly – demonstrated through his personal example that the entire judicial system of Bosnia and Herzegovina is on its knees. No one in the chain, from the cantonal to the State Prosecutor's Office to the HJPC members, sees anything problematic in the fact that the head of the country's top judicial institution has been discredited. Moreover, they offer him wholehearted support "because they themselves have been victims of similar attempts at discreditation on several occasions." Lawyers, of course, benefit from such a corrupt Bosnian-Herzegovinian system because they are well paid for mediating between crime and the judiciary. Criminals have their lawyers, lawyers have their prosecutors and judges, and all together they have Tegeltija at the head of the HJPC. The judiciary in Bosnia and Herzegovina died long ago, and Alešević was merely its official coroner.