New attempt to appoint SIPA Deputy Director on July 3rd or when police depend on politics

By Amra Vrabac

The next session of the Council of Ministers of BiH is scheduled for July 3rd, and according to the published agenda, the appointment of the Deputy Director of the State Investigation and Protection Agency is proposed. The report on the work of this agency for 2024 is also on the agenda.

Given that Staša Košarac (SNSD) did not give consent for this agenda item at the last session, it was removed. It is difficult to expect the situation to be different at the upcoming session.

The saga with the leadership of SIPA has been ongoing since March when, on the order of the RS leadership, Director Darko Ćulum left the position of director and became an advisor in the RS Ministry of Internal Affairs. However, the Council of Ministers of BiH did not dismiss Ćulum, so he is formally still the director, although he does not appear at the SIPA building in Lukavica. Some staff members do meet with him and inform him about the developments within this police agency.

SIPA has also been without a deputy director for a year, as former deputy Zoran Galić fled to Croatia to avoid arrest for abuse of official position while he was the director of the BiH Border Police. He was formally dismissed only in October 2024, at his own request.

Such a complex situation has never been recorded since the establishment of SIPA, and according to Patria's information, all activities have been reduced to a minimum. Cooperation with OSA is also slowed down, especially when it comes to the flow of information.

Ministers from the SNSD are unwilling to agree to the appointment of SIPA's top officials, referring to unconstitutional laws that the Constitutional Court of BiH annulled with a final decision at the end of May.

At the end of February, the National Assembly of RS passed a law prohibiting the work of "unconstitutional institutions" such as the HJPC, Courts, Prosecutor's Office, and SIPA.

The Prosecutor's Office of BiH formed a case for the criminal offense of attack on the constitutional order, but to date, Milorad Dodik, Nenad Stevandić, and Radovan Višković have not been questioned or arrested, even though an internal warrant has been issued.

Interpol rejected the request of the Court of BiH to issue an international arrest warrant, and it seems that the entire case then stalled.

The Prosecutor's Office of BiH, headed by Milanko Kajganić, a former member of the RS Ministry of Internal Affairs, no longer comments on this case, and there are no concrete answers to media inquiries.

And while about 700 employees in SIPA, including those prevented from performing their official duties by RS Ministry of Internal Affairs officers in front of the RS Government building in Lukavica, are waiting for the situation to be resolved, the question arises who benefits the most from a weak state police agency.

The saga with the appointment of the director and deputy will continue for some time, and the question arises how the Legislative Office or some other competent institution has not provided a solution to the newly created situation.

How is it possible that an absconding director and a person who left a police agency on a political order have not been dismissed, and Ćulum's return to SIPA is still being discussed, even though employees are strongly resisting such a scenario.

The Council of Ministers of BiH has failed the test and weakened state institutions through its negligence. Ćulum's mandate officially expired in July 2024, and even after the competition was completed, politics halted the appointment.

The Minister of Defense of BiH, Zukan Helez, stated that he will not agree to the appointment of the Deputy Director of SIPA until the Minister of Security of BiH is appointed. Since January of this year, the Ministry has been headed by Ivica Bošnjak (HDZ BiH) after the arrested Nenad Nešić resigned.

However, the Chairperson Borjana Krišto does not want to initiate the appointment of a new Minister of Security without a political agreement. She believes that this position belongs to SNSD and their partners. Thus, in the midst of the attack on the constitutional order, she initiated the appointment of Goran Selak, but he withdrew from the procedure himself after information emerged that he was mentioned in SKY communications.

To the request of five parliamentary clubs to propose the appointment of Nebojša Vukanović as Minister of Security of BiH, Krišto ignored it and said: political agreement first, then appointment.