OHR calls for adoption of laws that strengthen, not weaken, the fight against corruption

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - MPs in the House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament at yesterday's session overwhelmingly voted for amendments to the Criminal Code of FBiH, specifically Article 382 of that law, which relates to trading in influence. This type of trading, if the Law is also adopted by the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament, will no longer be treated as a criminal offense, except in cases where direct bribery is sought or given.

The amendments to this article of the Criminal Code were proposed by Elzina Pirić from the Democratic Action Movement, led by Mirsad Kukić. The president of that party is currently on trial for this criminal offense. The amendments to Article 382 of the Criminal Code of FBiH were supported by MPs from SDA, SBB, HDZ BiH, and SDP BiH. MP Amir Zukić from SDA, as well as Asim Sarajlić, Vice-President of SDA and MP in the State Parliament, are also on trial for the same offense.

Ivana Korajlić from Transparency International believes that this is a narrowing of the scope for punishing criminal offenses, which is not good. She stated that this law was harmonized with the recommendations of GRECO (the Council of Europe's anti-corruption monitoring body) in 2016, but the new amendments to the Criminal Code in the Federal Parliament have deviated from European practice.

The amendments to the Criminal Code, as done on Tuesday in the House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament, were also criticized by DF and Our Party, the latter announcing a blockade of the adoption of the amendments to the Law in the House of Peoples.

SDP stated today that it is unacceptable for the mentioned amendments to the law to be implemented without the active participation of the Ministry of Justice and competent judicial institutions.

"Given that the Law has not entered into force with yesterday's vote, and that it is yet to go through the procedure in the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament, we call on the competent judicial institutions, the HJPC, the academic community, the European Commission, and the legal department of the OHR to clearly state their position on the nature of these amendments, and to clarify or confirm the claims that this is harmonization with EU acquis and GRECO recommendations," the party stated.

The OHR stated today in a comment for the Patria agency that "the OHR has not seen the mentioned amendments, so we cannot comment on them," but in any case, they call for strengthening the fight against corruption.

"It is of key importance that the Parliament adopts laws that strengthen, not weaken, the fight against corruption," the OHR stated.