New attempt on August 25: Independent Board should take a stance on Ćulum's return to SIPA

(Patria) - After the failed emergency session on July 24, the Independent Board scheduled a regular session for August 25. Neither of the two members from the Serbian people attended the emergency session, so there was no quorum for work, and the new situation regarding Darko Ćulum's return to the helm of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) was not discussed.

According to the agenda of this regular session, a meeting with the leadership of the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina is planned in order to review their work.

The agenda of the regular session also includes consideration of the notification about the withdrawal of the request for the dismissal of Darko Ćulum. On March 18, he submitted his resignation to the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Independent Board of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and after not being dismissed from his position, on July 9, he informed them that he was withdrawing his resignation and returning to the position of SIPA director. In the meantime, the Independent Board never initiated disciplinary proceedings against Ćulum because there was no political will for it, but also due to obstructions within the Independent Board itself.

Ćulum appeared at the SIPA building on July 14, and to this day there has been no reaction from either the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina or the Independent Board. A criminal complaint was filed against Ćulum on July 21 for several criminal offenses, but the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina does not respond to media inquiries about Ćulum, even though it is evident that he participated in an attack on the constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for which an investigation is being conducted against Milorad Dodik, Nenad Stevandić, and Radovan Višković.

The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has never responded to inquiries about how many suspects are in that case. After the prosecution team was disbanded by a decision of the Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milanko Kajganić, only Vedrana Mijović remained on the case. Since she took over the case, the detention of Dodik, Stevandić, and Višković was lifted, and they previously appeared before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The mandate of the Independent Board of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina has expired, and at the last session of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a decision on a three-member commission regarding the procedures for electing new members of the Independent Board was not passed.

Ćulum's return to SIPA has also caused various reactions among employees, but it is clear that politics has long been managing processes in this state police agency. Thus, the epilogue of this entire case will depend exclusively on politics.

SIPA has been without a deputy director since July 2024, and Ćulum's mandate expired in July last year. At the end of August 2024, the Independent Board submitted a ranked list of names for the position of SIPA director to the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the appointment never took place.