The 'Trojka' is losing the battle even to Ćulum: No competitions announced for chief inspectors, nor a head of Sarajevo Regional Office appointed

Darko Ćulum, the Director of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), whose mandate expired in July 2024, and who was absent from work for four months in 2025 without any legal consequences, is still running this police agency today.

After Suad Hasanović retired in January, Ćulum only appointed Amer Veiz as the Head of the Criminal Investigation Department in March. Veiz holds the rank of Chief Inspector.

At the end of February, Edin Malkić, the Head of the Sarajevo Regional Office, also retired. To this day, no new head has been appointed, which means another leadership position is lost for Bosniaks in this agency.  

Chief Inspector Vahidin Šahinpašić also left SIPA in March to take up the position of Deputy Director of the Federal Police Administration, leaving the position of Head of the Department for War Crimes and Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law vacant. However, for now, this department is managed by Dragan Marković, Head of the Investigation Department, who holds the rank of Senior Inspector.

After the departure of Malkić and Šahinpašić, SIPA currently has only two Bosniaks holding the rank of Chief Inspector: Veiz and Jasmin Gogić, who is retiring in the second half of this year.

There are five Chief Inspectors from the Serb ethnicity and one from the Croat ethnicity.

Three Bosniaks, including management staff, retired from SIPA's Special Support Unit, and these positions have also not been filled.

As confirmed to Patria by multiple sources, Ćulum does not want to announce competitions for promotion to Chief Inspector; competitions are only announced up to the rank of Inspector. Thus, in the past few months, Bosniaks have lost several leadership positions and have never been in a worse situation since SIPA's inception.

The political structure known as 'Trojka' is in complete disarray regarding this police agency. They did not keep their promise not to appoint SIPA's Deputy Director Dragan Andrić until Ćulum was dismissed for leaving SIPA at the invitation of Milorad Dodik during the attack on the constitutional order.

According to Patria's information, the president of NIP, Elmedin Konaković, requested a position in the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, headed by HDZ's Ivica Bošnjak, and in return, 'Trojka' voted for the appointment of Andrić, who is close to HDZ.

Thus, today SIPA is exclusively run by personnel close to SNSD and HDZ, while the number of personnel from the Bosniak ethnicity is decreasing, with no clear plan on how to ensure appointments to vacant positions.

Internal rifts have also begun within 'Trojka' precisely because of multiple factions interfering in personnel matters within SIPA, in an attempt to at least mitigate the damage at the expense of Bosniaks.