KS Prosecutor's Office Acting on Three Cases: Audio Recording on Employment at Health Center During Abel Baltić's Tenure Also Being Investigated

In February 2024, Abel Baltić resigned as director of the Public Institution Sarajevo Canton Health Center. Previously, the KS Assembly rejected the work report for 2022. However, Baltić left the Health Center and started working in the private sector, simultaneously taking over the position of president of the SDP BiH Novi Grad Municipal Organization in a procedure that has, to this day, been shrouded in secrecy, given that the resignation of the previous leadership has not formally passed through the party's bodies.

Although already burdened with criminal charges, Baltić was deemed suitable by the SDP and those who support him, led by party leader Nermin Nikšić, to be the list leader for this party in the upcoming Local Elections in Sarajevo's Novi Grad. It should be recalled that Baltić was also a councilor before, and given that he held the position of director of the Public Institution Health Center, due to the provisions of the Law on Prevention and Suppression of Corruption, which came into effect in January 2023, he resigned from his councilor mandate in March 2023.

In December 2023, the portal Istraga published an audio recording in which Baltić is mentioned in the context of rigging a competition and arranging the hiring of candidate Adnan Kalkan.

Baltić's driver at the time, Aldin Mehić, had a conversation with Kalkan during the 2022 competition procedure for a driver at the Sarajevo Canton Health Center. The competition procedure was completed, and Kalkan was the top-ranked candidate. The name Adnan Kalkan is also in the public sector employee registry, having been hired on an indefinite basis in September 2022.

“No one can give you a job except Abel. God, Allah cannot help you except Abel,” Aldin Mehić said in mid-2022 during a meeting with Adnan Kalkan.

Mehić denied having the conversation with Kalkan, and the entire case is being investigated by the Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton.

In addition to this case, several reports were filed against Baltić with the KS Prosecutor's Office regarding certain irregularities during his tenure as director of the Sarajevo Canton Health Center. The procurement of uniforms, the issuance of advertising billboards, and certain public procurements are disputed.

“In three cases, acting prosecutors are verifying the allegations from the reports, and among other things, checks are underway regarding the report related to the audio recording published in the public concerning employment at the Public Institution Sarajevo Canton Health Center,” the KS Prosecutor's Office responded to Patria's inquiry.

The KS Prosecutor's Office confirmed that acting prosecutors had previously issued orders in four cases not to conduct investigations against the accused due to various legal grounds.

A group of SDP members warned Nikšić and the SDP leadership about Baltić and the interest group around him that had taken over the Novi Grad SDP. However, neither the head of the SDP Cantonal Organization, Adnan Šteta, reacted to these warnings. In one of the public letters signed by genuine SDP members to Nikšić, Šteta, and others, they stated that the SDP would pay the bill on October 6.

(A. Vrabac)