POSKOK between politics and law: The 'Spengavanje' affair without an epilogue before the General Elections

The Special Department of the Federal Prosecutor's Office (POSKOK) officially began its work just over a year ago. The ceremonial ribbon was cut by the Federal Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić, who would find himself as an actor in the "Spengavanje" affair a few months later.

In the meantime, only a few indictments have been filed based on cases handed over by cantonal prosecutor's offices. These are mostly cases of organized crime, drug production and sale. And while hundreds of cases from cantonal prosecutor's offices are waiting in drawers, and POSKOK is lobbying for legal amendments and an increase in the damage threshold from 100,000 to 500,000 KM, which would return more than half of the cases to cantonal prosecutor's offices, even though some were close to indictment as in the case of "Ibro Berilo and others", POSKOK prosecutors have opened numerous cases in recent months concerning irregularities and illegality in federal institutions and the Federation of BiH Government itself. Appointments, tender procedures, statute changes, suspicious decisions – all this has been the subject of interest for POSKOK prosecutors for months in several cases involving Sarajevo Airport, FUCZ, FUP, FMUP...

The "Spengavanje" affair was revealed only after journalist Avdo Avdić published correspondence from Vahidin Munjić's phone, which POSKOK already had but did not act upon until the messages were publicly released. This concerns the period of 2023 and 2024. Nermin Nikšić's government was confirmed on April 28, 2023.

In these messages that Munjić exchanged, among others, with Prime Minister Nikšić, as well as his right-hand woman or "daughter" Arijana Huseinović-Ajanović, and Muhamed Ohranović, Ervin Mušinović, Mirela Bubalo, positions, appointments of staff, relatives, and reservation of positions in public tenders are being arranged...

It is superfluous to talk about the authenticity of the messages, given that Prime Minister Nikšić himself confirmed that he exchanged messages with the then head of FUP and asked him if he would "spengati" (a slang term implying to deal with or eliminate) some criminal. In recent days, Nikšić has reiterated his stance that he will continue to ask whoever is at the head of FUP and once again confirmed his influence on police bodies.

To date, it is not known whether Nikšić is a witness or one of the suspects in this case. Four suspects have been under restrictive measures for six months: former FUP director Vahidin Munjić, former police officer Muhamed Ohranović, head of Nermin Nikšić's cabinet and president of the Commission for the Election and Appointment of Members of Supervisory Boards in Companies with State Capital in FBiH Arijana Huseinović-Ajanović, and director of the Police Academy of FMUP Ervin Mušinović.

Last week, the Special Department of the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina for Corruption, Organized and International Crime partially granted the request of POSKOK to extend the restrictive measures for Vahidin Munjić, Muhamed Ohranović, Arijana Huseinović-Ajanović, and Ervin Mušinović, who are suspected of abuse of official position. The court determined that Huseinović-Ajanović violated previous restrictive measures, and searches were carried out several times at the premises used by Huseinović-Ajanović, and items were seized. The court's decision stated that original material evidence related to the criminal proceedings was found with the suspect, despite her having a valid restraining order prohibiting her from approaching the FBiH Government building and performing any duties in the FBiH Government. The laptop seized is currently undergoing expert examination.

Given the public interest in this case, we asked POSKOK several questions, but we did not receive precise and accurate answers to the questions asked. Thus, the "Spengavanje" case is still in the investigation phase, and restrictive measures have been imposed on only four individuals. No restrictive measures were sought or imposed on the suspect Mirela Bubalo. Bubalo is the current assistant to the mayor of Novo Sarajevo municipality, Benjamina Karić, and police officers have visited the municipality building in the past period and requested and photographed certain documentation in Mirela Bubalo's office. At the time of the messages that are the subject of the investigation, Bubalo was an advisor to Elmedin Konaković, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH.

The Federal Prosecutor's Office states that "at this moment, it is not possible to specify a timeframe for making a prosecutorial decision".

"However, this prosecutor's office continuously undertakes actions and activities within its jurisdiction to ensure that a decision is made based on a fully and accurately established factual situation. Regarding restrictive measures, we emphasize that they were imposed six months ago on four suspects in this case and are still in effect. This prosecutor's office will continue to propose their extension as long as there are legal grounds for their duration. All other information relating to the course of the investigation, the scope of actions, the measures being taken, as well as the persons covered by the investigation, we are currently unable to disclose to the public, considering the interest of the investigation and the need to preserve its unimpeded progress," reads the response from the Federal Prosecutor's Office to Patria's question.

The suspect Huseinović-Ajanović, former head of the cabinet of FBiH Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić, is prohibited from undertaking certain business activities or official duties and from performing any official function within the FBiH Government.

The suspect Mušinović has had his prohibition on undertaking certain business activities or official duties extended, and a prohibition on performing any official function within the Federal Police Administration and the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs of FBiH.

The suspects Munjić, former director of the Federal Police Administration (FUP), Ohranović, former FUP inspector, and Mušinović have had their prohibition on visiting and approaching the official premises of FUP and FMUP extended, and Huseinović-Ajanović has had her prohibition on approaching the official premises of the FBiH Government extended.

All suspects have had their prohibitions on meeting each other and meeting with suspect Mirela Bubalo, as well as other individuals, Nermin Nikšić, Refik Begić, Ram Isak, Amina Imamović, Almedina Šaćerović, Alma Čengić, Sead Šarić, Almin Hopovac, and Safet Trakić, extended.

According to the response we received from the Federal Prosecutor's Office, it seems that politics has interfered, and everyone will wait for the General Elections to pass. Or as Nikšić would say: "Let them do their work, but why are they coming after us"?