Department to verify property records of judicial office holders starts work, Bogunić first on the list

The Department for the Implementation of Procedures based on the Reports of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina began its work on June 2, a year and a half after its establishment. Vesna Pirija has been appointed as the Head of the Department, Detektor has confirmed from this institution.

The Department has started collecting reports for 2023, in accordance with the procedure and on the form valid for the period before the entry into force of the Law on Amendments to the Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC), and for 2024, according to the new procedure and new form, for judges, prosecutors, and members of the Council.

The President of the HJPC, Sanin Bogunić, says that the Department has become functional with the appointment of its head.

“Now we have a complete Department. Without a head, the Department could not function. The Department is being staffed, and certain positions are currently undergoing checks. In the first phase, six to seven positions were advertised. We have a head and two employees, but the Department is working at full capacity, covering all the necessary tasks,” he told Detektor.

The Executive Director of Transparency International in BiH, Ivana Korajlić, believes that the public will not see concrete results from the Department's work anytime soon, primarily due to staffing shortages.

“Many things are still problematic, from the fact that the Department's capacities are not yet full to be able to conduct checks at full capacity. On the other hand, there are challenges that we have warned about from the beginning when the Law was amended, which is the question of how data collection and cooperation with other institutions will function,” Korajlić told Detektor.

Last week, the HJPC signed five cooperation agreements with institutions, agencies, and other legal entities responsible for recording and processing data relevant to property and interest report verification procedures. Agreements were signed with the Central Bank of BiH, the Tax Administration of the Federation, the Agency for Identification Documents, Data Registries and Border Crossings of BiH (IDDEEA), the Federal Banking Agency, and the Financial Information Agency (FIA).

Bogunić says that solutions are being sought to sign agreements with other relevant institutions, while Korajlić states that the question remains open as to how the Department, or the Council, will be able to effectively collect relevant data and documentation to conduct checks, until these agreements are concluded.

“The idea of placing the burden on judicial office holders to submit all possible documents supporting their statements is also unsustainable, and therefore, the focus must be on enabling the Department to have adequate and legally prescribed competencies and cooperation with other institutions for data exchange, in order to conduct verification,” says Korajlić.

Although some judges and prosecutors already submitted their reports for 2023 at the end of last year, the deadlines for judges and prosecutors to report their property for 2023 were annulled at the session in January this year, after the Personal Data Protection Agency of BiH issued a decision that the data could not be processed until a functional Department for the Implementation of Procedures based on reports was established.

The Agency had received a complaint from the Association of Prosecutors of the Federation of BiH, and the Council adopted a conclusion postponing the new deadline for property reporting for 2023 until the establishment of a functional Department for the Implementation of Procedures based on reports. The HJPC says this issue has been resolved.

“The collection and processing of personal data of judicial office holders and Council members will be carried out in accordance with the laws governing personal data protection, including, but not limited to, the Law on Personal Data Protection of BiH, and specific laws concerning the handling and storage of confidential data,” the HJPC told Detektor.

At the same session, the Council adopted a new form for reporting property and interests, which judges, prosecutors, and Council members are obliged to complete and submit to the Department within 90 days, starting from June 9, 2025.

Property and interest reports will be published on the Council's website, as previously stated, with the aim of strengthening integrity, transparency, and public trust in the work of the judiciary, and to prevent conflicts of interest and other undue influences in the performance of judicial functions. Bogunić cannot specify when this will happen.

“Sometime in the fall. It is difficult to estimate because there is a very large number of judicial office holders, around 1,600. Once we receive the data for all of them within 90 days, it depends on how quickly we can verify it, but we will aim to publish it within a reasonable timeframe, hopefully by the end of the year,” said Bogunić.

The priority, he says, will be judicial office holders appointed after February 28, i.e., since the new HJPC law came into effect.

“Council members will also be a priority. I have filled out the form myself and will be the first to undergo verification,” he said.

The Supreme Court of Republika Srpska has appointed Obren Bužanin as the new member of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH, who will replace Ljiljan Bošnjak-Glizijan, a judge of that court who resigned from the HJPC. According to Bogunić, he will also have to undergo verification to assume the position.

“And colleague Snežana Petković, who was re-elected. Our mandate formally expires in September, and by then we will have to undergo verification,” said Bogunić.

Korajlić reminds that some judicial office holders, appointed after February 28, have not passed verification and cannot assume their mandates, and it is unclear when they will be able to.

“We will certainly have that part which will contribute to delays in regular checks,” she said, adding that a new draft law on the HJPC is in parliamentary procedure.

“It remains to be seen what will happen with the new draft law and whether it will affect the verification procedures in any way. I fear that two people in the Department are not enough for the large number of individuals whose reports need to be verified,” Korajlić believes.

Vesna Pirija, appointed as the head of the Department, did not respond to Detektor journalists' calls, who were directed to the Council's press service.

In early May, the HJPC postponed the adoption of the property and interest report form for judges, prosecutors, and Council members due to a suggestion from the Delegation of the European Union to BiH to wait for an opinion from Brussels. The Council says this has also been resolved, and the new form was adopted at a session held at the end of May.

“Cooperation with the European Union in the preparation of relevant documents, as well as the establishment of the Department, has been of great importance, in which all involved parties have made their maximum contribution to establishing a functional system for collecting and verifying property and interest reports,” said the HJPC's Public Relations Department.

In November 2023, by adopting a new job systematization, the HJPC practically formed the Department for the Implementation of Procedures for Verifying Property Reports of Candidates for Judicial Positions – which is also foreseen by earlier amendments to the HJPC Law.

The Department for the Implementation of Procedures based on Reports, according to legal regulations, regularly verifies the accuracy, completeness, and truthfulness of reported data, and analyzes data from property and interest reports to identify incompatible activities and potential conflicts of interest.

It is also tasked with submitting proposals to the Council for initiating misdemeanor proceedings related to property and interest reports, publishing the results of report verification, and submitting information on irregularities arising from verification to the Disciplinary Prosecutor's Office.

Korajlić also considers the fact that the forms for 2023 and 2024 are different to be problematic.

She says there are also doubts about the possibility of family members refusing to have their property data disclosed, and that judicial office holders are asked for consent to have their property verified.

“This is completely nonsensical if you have a legally prescribed obligation to submit a report. It's all a bit of a mess that has existed since the adoption of the amendments establishing the Department and the system. So many obstructions – from securing funds to postponing deadlines. I fear that from the high expectations we had, we will not get adequate results in the end,” says Korajlić.