Prosecutor's Office of BiH Conducts Extensive Investigation: Who Was Wiretapped, and Who Filed False Reports

The Prosecutor's Office of BiH is conducting an extensive investigation related to the illegal wiretapping of acting Chief Prosecutor Gordana Tadić and HJPC Vice-President Ružica Jukić, concerning the criminal offenses of unauthorized wiretapping and audio or visual recording under Article 147a of the Criminal Code of BiH, in connection with the criminal offenses of disclosure of secret data under Article 164 of the Criminal Code of BiH, forgery of an official document under Article 226 of the Criminal Code of BiH, the criminal offense of false reporting under Article 234, paragraph 2, in conjunction with paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of BiH, and the criminal offense of obstruction of justice under Article 241 of the Criminal Code of BiH, it was announced by this institution, reports the Patria agency.

The Prosecutor's Office stated that maximum and comprehensive efforts will be made to shed light on all circumstances of the mentioned events. An investigation is also underway for the criminal offense of false reporting under Article 234 of the Criminal Code of BiH, committed by submitting a forged official document from SIPA to the Prosecutor's Office of BiH.

The Prosecutor's Office of BiH previously announced that they had received documents indicating the implementation of special investigative measures to track the movements of acting Chief Prosecutor Gordana Tadić, as well as transcripts of conversations between HJPC Vice-President Ružica Jukić and acting Chief Prosecutor Gordana Tadić.

- Given that the conversation texts are authentic and that the mentioned communication took place, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH will, within the scope of the case it is working on, conduct detailed checks of the legality of the actions taken, as well as of the persons who participated in the mentioned activities.

The State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) announced that neither Tadić nor Jukić have ever been the subject of SIPA's work, nor have any special investigative measures been taken against them.

Following this entire affair, Josip Šimić was arrested, who submitted forged documents to the Prosecutor's Office of BiH. Those who gave him these documents have already left BiH.

Neither Tadić nor Jukić have commented in the media since then, nor about the "authentic conversations". Whether due to the investigation or something else, time will tell.

Meanwhile, Transparency International has submitted a request to the Disciplinary Prosecutor's Office against Tadić to investigate the conduct of the acting Chief Prosecutor in the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, Gordana Tadić. Among other things, TI BiH pointed out in the information submitted to the Disciplinary Prosecutor's Office several possible disciplinary offenses, such as: interfering with the actions of a judge or prosecutor with the intention of obstructing or devaluing their activities; engaging in activities incompatible with the duties of a prosecutor; conduct in court or prosecutor's office and outside of court or prosecutor's office that harms the reputation of the prosecutorial duty, or any other conduct that constitutes a serious violation of official duty or calls into question public trust in the impartiality and credibility of the prosecutor's office.

TI BiH also highlighted contradictory statements and announcements by Gordana Tadić regarding the mentioned case, as well as the premature disclosure of unverified information about alleged tracking and wiretapping and the authenticity of documents, which turned out not to be authentic (or at least their authenticity was not guaranteed at the time of disclosure).