Police Officers' Appeals Committee to Review Appeals of Candidates for BiH Border Police Recruitment

SARAJEVO, (Patria) – The Police Officers' Appeals Committee, appointed at the session of the Council of Ministers of BiH on December 16, 2021, has already held its first constitutive session, and this week it will hold another one, Samir Rizvo, the Committee's president, confirmed for Patria.

When asked whether the Committee had reviewed the appeals of candidates who did not pass the recruitment process for cadets in the BiH Border Police, Rizvo stated that the appeals would be reviewed when they "come up for consideration".

Given that the Committee had not existed since May, the new composition has a lot of work ahead of them.

Among the received appeals are those submitted by candidates who did not pass the recruitment process for 150 cadets (125 police officers and 25 junior inspectors) in the BiH Border Police.

The list of candidates was published on September 20, and within the stipulated period, several candidates filed appeals. These appeals were never decided upon, and due to the operation in which the president of the Cadet Recruitment Commission, Rejhan Raković, was arrested, the director of the BiH Border Police has never confirmed nor annulled the list of admitted candidates.

Everything has been on hold for months, and as confirmed to us, the Committee will address the candidates' appeals at its upcoming sessions.

The BiH Prosecutor's Office is actively conducting an investigation into the recruitment process in the BiH Border Police, and besides Raković, two other individuals are in custody. In separate operations, two more individuals connected to this recruitment process were apprehended.

This case involves high-level corruption, and there was a price list for recruitment into the BiH Border Police. Jobs cost 10,000, 20,000, and even 30,000 KM. Raković was found with 100,000 KM and candidate lists upon his arrest.  

Besides Rizvo, who was also the president of the Committee in the previous term, the members are Veljko Lazić from the BiH Border Police, Ljubiša Pandurević from SIPA, Edin Memić from SIPA, Samir Mirvić from DKPT, Željko Bogut from the Ministry of Justice of BiH, and Lidija Markota from the Ministry of Civil Affairs of BiH.