CRIMES ADDRESSED Galić Got Rid of 'Fake' Diplomas!

By Amra Vrabac

The arrest of the head of OSA, Osman Mehmedagić, due to a fake diploma from the American University in BiH, raised the question of why the BiH Prosecutor's Office is not investigating other heads of police agencies in BiH. For years, there have been writings and talks about the diplomas of the Director of the BiH Border Police, Zoran Galić, the Deputy Director of SIPA, Đuro Knežević, and some other police officials. Complaints have been filed against Galić and others with the BiH Prosecutor's Office, and there is no official information yet on whether checks are being conducted. We have not received an answer to any inquiry addressed to the BiH Prosecutor's Office on this topic.

The reason for this is likely the fact that both Knežević and Galić are cadres close to HDZ BiH, which has kept them in these positions for years. And the Chief Prosecutor Gordana Tadić is one of the informal leaders of HDZ BiH. Because how else to explain the inaction of the BiH Prosecutor's Office on the complaints filed against Galić, from the disappearance of optical sights and other equipment from the BiH Border Police warehouse, to pre-arranged promotions and cadet admissions. To this day, the responsibility of the BiH Border Police regarding the laying of pipes in the Brod Refinery on the Sava has not been determined, and whether Croatia violated the territorial sovereignty of BiH. How many times have Croatian border guards entered BiH territory returning migrants who managed to cross the border illegally, without the BiH Border Police ever informing the BiH Prosecutor's Office, or only in one case when the media discovered a case in Velika Kladuša with a larger group of injured migrants.

Even the Federal Police Administration, which requested data on Zoran Galić's education in Serbia from Interpol through DKPT several months ago, has not yet received a response. The Independent Board of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly has also failed to respond regarding which diploma Galić submitted in 2014 when he applied for the position of Director of the BiH Border Police.

In 2007, Zoran Galić obtained a diploma from the Faculty of Service Business in Sremska Kamenica (FABUS), as did about a hundred other police officers. Galić then tried to have that diploma recognized at the Faculty of Business Studies in Banja Luka, and although he received a decision stating that he was an "economist", in 2009 Galić had his diploma obtained in 2007 recognized for the second time at the University of Sarajevo.

Today, he does not use that diploma. Although he has obtained a master's and a doctorate, and for a time signed himself as a doctor of science, Galić's official biography states that he is a law graduate and that he completed the Faculty of Law in Mostar.

Perhaps Galić was advised to "get rid" of fake diplomas so as not to be on the radar of investigative bodies, but it is indicative that he had multiple diplomas, both from Serbia and from the entity of Republika Srpska.

The Independent Board of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly cannot recall which diploma Galić submitted, but they do know for sure that the BiH Prosecutor's Office has not approached them with a request for such information.

And while HDZ BiH rejoices that Mehmedagić has been arrested, at the same time they are exerting pressure for Galić to be appointed Director of the Federal Police Administration as soon as possible, even though more than two years have passed since the competition. After no candidate received the support of the FBiH Government for the director position, a conclusion was reached for the Independent Board to annul the previous competition and announce a new one, but for now there is resistance from the Independent Board of the FBiH Parliament. This board also cannot recall which diploma Galić submitted in the 2019 competition.

The security, intelligence, and defense sector of BiH is seriously undermined within the institutions themselves precisely because of cadres whose education or past is burdened by illegal and dishonest actions.

Given that they receive salaries from the budget and from all citizens of BiH, to say the least, it would be necessary to conduct checks of all diplomas within police agencies as soon as possible, especially for directors and management staff.

The flood of private universities, "meadow" faculties, and express diplomas has undermined the state system of BiH.

And therefore, the BiH Prosecutor's Office should urgently initiate diploma checks ex officio and in preserving the dignity of state institutions, and not stop only at Mehmedagić.