Prosecutor's Office of BiH Investigating, No Appeals Board, and No Final List for Border Police Cadet Recruitment

SARAJEVO, (Patria) – In response to Patria's inquiry about the fate of the recruitment process for 150 cadets (25 junior inspectors and 125 police officers), the BiH Border Police referred us to their official statement from October 7th.

In translation, this means that the BiH Border Police has not confirmed the list of candidates published on September 20th, nor has the competition, which is under investigation by the BiH Prosecutor's Office, been annulled. Consequently, the recruitment procedure has been suspended by operation of law. 

Specifically, after the list was published and dissatisfied candidates were directed to the possibility of filing an appeal with the Police Officers' Appeals Board, they did so. On September 24th, the president of the Cadet Recruitment Commission, Rejhan Raković, was arrested, and a large sum of money was found in his possession, suspected to be payment for recruitment into the BiH Border Police. In addition to Raković, another member of the BiH Border Police and a third person acting as an intermediary were arrested. All three are in custody. The Cadet Recruitment Commission consisted of five members, three from the BiH Border Police and two from the BiH Ministry of Security.

However, there is no one to respond to the appeals of the candidates who did not pass the competition, as the Appeals Board has not existed since May of this year, when the four-year term of the previous composition expired.

The BiH Minister of Security, Selmo Cikotić, prepared a proposal for the appointment of seven members of the Board, but the proposal was not even considered at the session of the BiH Council of Ministers on June 23rd because the proposer withdrew it for revision by the Committee on Internal Policy of the BiH Council of Ministers. The proposal was never put on the agenda of a BiH Council of Ministers session again, and by the end of July, the work of BiH institutions was blocked, leaving this Board in limbo. The BiH Ministry of Security never responded to Patria's inquiry about the possibility of appointing the Board, given that other items were considered at the sessions of the BiH Council of Ministers despite the blockades. 

What could pose a problem are the differing or conflicting provisions of the Law on Independent and Oversight Bodies of the Police Structure of BiH and the Law on Police Officers of BiH.

Article 9 of the Law on Independent and Oversight Bodies of the Police Structure of BiH stipulates that the Police Officers' Appeals Board decides on appeals within 30 days of receiving the appeal, except for appeals against suspension decisions, which are decided within three days.

“Appeals submitted to the Police Officers' Appeals Board shall suspend the execution of the police body's decision, except for appeals against suspension decisions. The decisions of the Police Officers' Appeals Board are final and must be executed without delay, although they may be subject to judicial review in accordance with the laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and shall be delivered to the appellant and the police body within eight days of their adoption,” it states.

On the other hand, Article 53 of the Law on Police Officers of BiH specifies:

“(3) Only when the Police Officers' Appeals Board decides on all submitted appeals shall the manager approve the final list of all candidates nominated for employment.

(4) The selection commission shall publish the final list of all candidates nominated for employment on the notice board of the police authority,” the law states.

Therefore, one law stipulates that a decision on an appeal must be made within 30 days, while another law does not impose a time limit on the appeals process but makes further procedures conditional on the Board's decision. This clarifies why the Director of the BiH Border Police, Zoran Galić, has not yet made a decision regarding the list of candidates and the competition itself.

The BiH Prosecutor's Office is taking necessary actions regarding the three arrested individuals suspected of criminal offenses of abuse of position or authority, accepting gifts and other benefits, and illegal mediation, related to corrupt practices and activities during the recruitment of employees into the BiH Border Police.

In a statement from October 7th, the BiH Border Police informed the public that Director Galić had made a decision to suspend and dismiss Raković from his position as head of the Cadet Recruitment Commission.

Following the arrest of Raković and others, there were demands to annul the competition, and proposals were made to repeat the testing procedure for the applicants.

It is suspected that several candidates paid money for recruitment into the BiH Border Police, and following the BiH Prosecutor's Office operation, information has been forwarded to other institutions dealing with corruption reports.

On several occasions, relevant institutions, including the BiH Ministry of Security and the BiH Prosecutor's Office, were informed about suspicions regarding the regularity of the recruitment process and the price list for recruitment into the BiH Border Police.

As part of the investigation, SIPA interviewed the Director of the BiH Border Police, Zoran Galić, his deputy Fahrudin Halač, and the Assistant Director for Organization and Operations, Dragan Kulić, in mid-October.