Lukač is irrelevant; more important is the immorality of Izetbegović and Čampara who want him as police director

The Municipal Court in Sarajevo has decided to reinstate Dragan Lukač, after the Federation Government refused to appoint him for another term as director of the Federal Police Administration. This involved multiple illegal appointments, writes the Patria news agency.

The media was flooded with information that the head of the federal police was a man convicted in a painful trial before the Municipal Court in Orašje.

Namely, journalist Mika Damjanović published a series of articles in which he accused the then head of the criminal police of Posavina Canton, Dragan Lukač, of criminal activities.

There was all sorts of things, but the most painful part of the affair was Lukač taking money from an elderly married couple, the Martinovićs. They were searching for the remains of their son, who was killed by Chetniks. Lukač promised to find the child's bones for a certain sum of money.

Time passed, and the parents were not informed about the status of the investigation. Journalist Damjanović published the entire case. Lukač sued the journalist, claiming he did not take the money and that his reputation was tarnished. It was soon proven that he was lying and that he had received three thousand marks from the unfortunate parents. When Lukač's tarnished reputation was proven, he claimed that he had allegedly given the money to some Serb. To whom, remained unknown. There were other facts that leaned towards criminality and tarnished Lukač's reputation, but his lawsuit was dismissed in its entirety. What remained was the proof that, as a police officer, he privately took money from grieving parents who, before their deaths, only wanted to give their son a dignified burial.

The case was and remains a moral collapse of a man who was at the head of the Federal Police Administration and is trying to be again.

But, despite these horrors, Lukač seems like a less important phenomenon. Much more important are those who kept him at the head of the Federal Police Administration. And who desperately wanted such a man at the head of the federal police for another term.

The Prime Minister of the Federation Government, Nermin Nikšić, on two occasions, speaking on television, talked about the pressures to confirm another directorial term for Lukač. He also spoke about a high-ranking politician who asked him to keep Lukač at the head of the FUP.

It is an open secret that this politician is Bakir Izetbegović. Until now, the exclusive culprit for pushing Lukač into the position of the Federation's top cop was considered to be Izetbegović's chief of staff, now the future Minister of Police, Aljoša Čampara. It was a parallel pressure.

With this discovery, we have resolved the question of the SDA's new moral-political suitability. Someone can be immoral, yet morally-politically suitable by the SDA's standards.

For example, Lukač can take money from the parents of a dead child, then sue a journalist and claim he didn't take the money. So, Lukač was advocated for by the Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency, whose people, after 20,000 exhumed victims, are still searching for around 11,000 victims. Did Izetbegović know about this court affair of Lukač's moral collapse? It is hard to believe, as there are dozens of aides who should have informed him about everything.

Morality has become a relative thing in this country. It seems that parties are taking it away from the state, and it too becomes their property.

Finally, the Municipal Court, by its ruling, returns Lukač to his position, which is a huge judicial nonsense. For instance, equal to his illegal appointment.

A municipal court decides on the legality of appointment procedures for a federal position. So, it is not an ordinary job but a federal function. Obviously, it is a political decision of the Municipal Court. There were probably pressures on the court as well. What gives us the right to think so?

Let us recall the case when Živko Budimir sought the dismissal of Minister Desnica Radivojević in the previous convocation of the Federation Government. The Municipal Court in Sarajevo then declared itself incompetent, stating that "the appointment and dismissal of members of the Federation Government falls under the jurisdiction of the executive, not the judicial branch."

The Helsinki Committee also reacted, publicly condemning the pressures of Prime Minister Nikšić and Minister of Justice Zoran Mikulić. This case was also dealt with by the Constitutional Court of the Federation, which confirmed that opinion, stating that a political decision of the executive branch on an appointment cannot be part of the constitutional legal system.

That was and remains the jurisdiction of the Federation Government. Now, when the Government refused the request to appoint Lukač, the Municipal Court in Sarajevo is convincing us that its judicial practice was wrong, that the Constitutional Court of the Federation was also wrong, and it makes a decision in Lukač's favor, contradicting itself. If it is the same court, it should be checked whether perhaps the same judge was involved in these two proceedings.

Maybe these experts in beating around the bush and empty talk will tell you: Lukač was not appointed, he got the position through a competition. We know all about the competition and about Lukač. We also know that, according to procedures, he sought the consent of the Government and that the Government (the executive branch) refused.

So, the illegalities surrounding Lukač continue.

On the other hand, FUP employees have no one to turn to for an investigation into the flow of money, because there is a serious suspicion that some criminal activities were carried out in the FUP, especially regarding tenders and the purchase of equipment that never entered the police.

Lukač was an HDZ official, yet in 2001 he was selected by the IPTF as director of the FUP. Dragan Čović was elected as a member of the BiH Presidency less than a year later. As far as is known, Lukač never left his office. They say that Čović's associates mocked him, claiming that the boss regularly looked under the desk in fear that Lukač was hovering around his legs.

If Izetbegović and those around him continue to fight for Lukač's appointment, jokes are already being made about how Čović will get another position as a gift from the SDA.