Devastating Data: Executive and Judicial Authorities in BiH Cooperate with Criminals

Certain civil servants in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) provide criminals with certain benefits. Some do so occasionally for money, while others are permanently engaged for such services, it is stated in the Information on the Security Situation in BiH for 2014, published by the Center for Investigative Journalism, reports the news agency Patria.

The Information further states that criminals have also bribed certain representatives of the executive and judicial authorities. In this way, they have created conditions to conceal or at least minimize the harmful consequences of committed acts at some stage of their detection and proof, to reduce the burden and convictions to minimal measures, or to completely avoid sanctions by abusing dual citizenship and other legal possibilities.

There have also been cases where employees of institutions responsible for law enforcement in criminal proceedings have joined forces with criminals to extort persons who should be covered by future investigations or actions. In such cases, the identity of the corrupt official remains known only to the person directly cooperating with him.

According to data obtained by the Center for Investigative Journalism from Sarajevo, even when the identity of an official suspected of abusing his position is discovered, he will not immediately be dismissed. Existing civil service laws provide for termination of employment if the official is sentenced to a prison term longer than six months. With a lesser conviction, they remain on the job, and some even advance in their careers.

Director of the non-governmental organization "Center for Security Studies" Denis Hadžović says the problem is that existing laws and internal regulations allow officials to remain on the job while the investigation is ongoing. "They use precisely this possibility when the investigation drags on, so they carry out their work unhindered. They only refer to disciplinary proceedings."

In the last four police operations, 41 officials of the Indirect Taxation Authority (ITA) of BiH, the institution dealing with the collection of revenue from indirect taxes, were arrested on suspicion of abuse of position.

In a letter forwarded from this institution to CIN, it is stated that workers who were ordered into custody or given some measure of prohibition were suspended from work. However, after being released from custody and after the lifting of the prohibition measure, the reasons for suspension ceased and they were reinstated. The ITA notes that they requested from the Prosecutor's Office of BiH the evidence that was charged against their employees, but they did not receive it, with the explanation that the investigation is ongoing.

The ITA states that upon receiving information about possible illegal work of an official, they conduct an internal control and, where there is a basis, initiate disciplinary proceedings. Due to serious and minor violations of official duty during 2014, they had 115 disciplinary proceedings, and in this year, 28. In accordance with the established degree of responsibility, the following disciplinary measures can be imposed: termination of employment, fine, written and oral warnings. So far, four officials whose corrupt acts have been proven in court have lost their jobs.

The ITA states that, with the aim of preventive action against corruption, at the end of last year they adopted an Integrity Plan which identified positions susceptible to corruption and established preventive measures to be taken to prevent or reduce corruption. All employees in the Authority are obliged to implement the preventive measures from the Integrity Plan.

Director of the "Center for Security Studies" Hadžović says that all institutions should adopt integrity plans. He says that "employment, career advancement, and the public procurement system in every institution" are the most critical points for corruption.

The Information on the Security Situation of BiH will be on the agenda of the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH scheduled for August 27 this year. MP in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH and member of the Joint Commission for Defense and Security of BiH Šemsudin Mehmedović says that politicians are also involved in organized crime. "Serious organized crime in principle goes with the political support of certain political options," says Mehmedović. He adds that little and insufficient is being done to change the situation.

Šemsudin Mehmedović, MP in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, says that the origin of the property of BiH politicians should be investigated and determined when and how it was acquired

The Information on the Security Situation states that BiH, as a country that still has insufficiently efficient institutions, a high degree of corruption in the state structure, and a poor overall socio-economic situation, will in the coming period continue to represent fertile ground for the birth of new criminal groups as well as the strengthening and growth of existing ones into organizations that, with money and connections, could pose an even more serious threat to the security of BiH and its citizens.