Police Appeals Board to consider 12 complaints regarding the competition for admission of cadets to the Border Police of BiH

SARAJEVO, (Patria) – The Police Appeals Board will consider at its next session the case of Robert Ristić, an inspector of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), who was given a measure of dismissal from this police agency by the Disciplinary Commission in May 2021, against which Ristić appealed to the Board. Ristić regularly comes to work and receives his salary.

The Board did not consider his appeal due to the expiration of the mandate, and the President of the Board, Samir Rizvo, confirmed to Patria that the rapporteur has been assigned the case, and that at the next session a decision will be made on whether the statute of limitations has occurred.

If it has not, the Board will consider Ristić's appeal and make a decision, and if it has, Ristić should remain in SIPA.

Regarding the case of Inspector Ristić, the portal Istraga.ba reported in May 2021 that the State Investigation and Protection Agency submitted to the Prosecutor's Office of BiH a report on collected information related to Ristić and the mysterious return of unexamined mobile phones that were seized from Duško Đurasović, director of the company MDDI Group, suspected of smuggling 50 kilograms of cocaine. The acting prosecutor was Džermin Pašić, and the mobile phones were returned to Đurasović after three months at Ristić's initiative.

The disputed phones were seized when, in cooperation with the US DEA, a major international operation was carried out in February 2020, resulting in the seizure of cocaine worth one hundred million euros. The final destination of the approximately 50 kilograms of drugs was Sarajevo, and Đurasović's company MDDI was the orderer of the bananas in which the cocaine was hidden. Although Đurasović was arrested, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH did not request that he be remanded in custody.

Inspector Ristić founded a transport company, TVT Šped, in May 2020, registering it under his mother Marija Ristić. It received its first jobs from the company MDDI Group, whose founder is Duško Đurasović. Immediately after its founding, Ristić's company bought two trucks and signed a contract with the company MDDI, which was the importer of the bananas containing 50 kilograms of cocaine.

Regarding the complaints of candidates for admission as cadets to the Border Police of BiH, Rizvo confirmed that 12 complaints have been received, and that they will be considered very soon.

„There is no statute of limitations there, and the rapporteur has been assigned that case, so we will consider it,“ said Rizvo.

As he explained, two scenarios are possible: rejection of the complaint or complaints as unfounded, or if they are founded, the Board can decide to return everything to the first-instance body for a decision, or the Board can make a decision as a second-instance body.

We recall, the Director of the Border Police of BiH, Zoran Galić, published a list of 150 cadets (125 police officers and 25 junior inspectors) on September 20, 2021, and on September 24, the President of the Commission for the Admission of Cadets, Rejhan Raković, was arrested. During a search of his premises, lists of candidates and around 100,000 KM were found. The investigation is being conducted by the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, and without a decision from the Police Appeals Board, Galić cannot make a final decision on the list of admitted cadets.