Prosecutor's Office of Canton Sarajevo Requests Documents: What Does Adis Mešić's Sealed Envelope Contain?

The Prosecutor's Office of Canton Sarajevo has sent a letter to the Government of Canton Sarajevo, i.e., the Professional Service of the Government, requesting documentation related to Adis Mešić, the director of the Cantonal Administration for Inspection Affairs.

The prosecutor requested from the Professional Service of the Government the documentation that Adis Mešić submitted for the competition for the director of the Cantonal Administration for Inspection Affairs in June 2023.

That competition was annulled, and the then Commission never opened the received applications. The prosecutor is interested in whether Mešić used a Certificate or confirmation of the required work experience in original or certified copy, as well as other documentation, in the submitted application and documentation.

The Prosecutor's Office of Canton Sarajevo established that Adis Mešić used a forged certificate of work experience from "MCA Communications" when applying for a job at the Cantonal Administration for Inspection Affairs in 2012, which, at the request of the Prosecutor's Office of Canton Sarajevo, was first seized by the Police Administration of the Ministry of Interior of Canton Sarajevo from his personnel file at the Cantonal Administration for Inspection Affairs, and then permanently confiscated by a decision of the Municipal Court.

The Prosecutor's Office of Canton Sarajevo issued an order that no investigation will be conducted against Mešić and his wife, who signed the disputed certificate, because the statute of limitations for the criminal offense of "forgery of documents" has expired, but due to moral interest, as it is indisputable that it contains false information that was used in the competition procedure, the permanent seizure of the disputed certificate was requested.

The Commission that was supposed to conduct the competition procedure from June 2023 today compiled a record of all received applications and, with a cover letter for the Prosecutor's Office of Canton Sarajevo, submitted it to the Professional Service of the Government for forwarding to the prosecutor.

This competition was annulled in September 2023, and a decision was made to announce a new competition. Mešić submitted an application for both the first and the second competition. A different commission was formed for the second competition.

Concurrently with the implementation of the competition procedure, his appointment as acting director of the Cantonal Administration for Inspection Affairs was carried out. The Prosecutor's Office of Canton Sarajevo also conducted checks on this, but the prosecutor of the Prosecutor's Office of Canton Sarajevo issued an order that no investigation will be conducted regarding Mešić's appointments as acting director.

The Minister of Justice and Administration of Canton Sarajevo, Darja Softić-Kadenić, stated for Patria that Mešić did not submit the disputed certificate for the competition based on which he was appointed. This refers to the second announced competition, and Mešić was appointed director for a five-year mandate in December 2023.

It remains unknown what Mešić submitted in the first application for the annulled competition, i.e., whether there are elements of a criminal offense there, and that is what the Prosecutor's Office of Canton Sarajevo wants to verify.

Why the Prosecutor's Office of Canton Sarajevo will not conduct an investigation into the appointments

The members of the Government of Canton Sarajevo who appointed Mešić multiple times as acting director of the Cantonal Administration for Inspection Affairs were questioned on these circumstances, and the prosecutor himself concludes that the Law on Ministerial, Government and Other Appointments stipulates that a person can be appointed as acting director for up to three months without repetition.

However, as the prosecutor further explains, in practice, the competition procedure for the (final) appointment of a manager often lasts longer than three months, which results in the institution in question being left without a manager because, although the mandate of the appointed acting director has expired, it is not possible to make a final appointment of a manager due to the fact that the competition procedure has not been completed. The Law on Ministerial, Government and Other Appointments of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina does not recognize such a situation, so in this regard we can speak of a legal gap.

Although the prosecutor also refers to the Law on Administration, which states "exceptionally, in order to prevent harmful consequences for the work and functioning of the institution, the body responsible for appointing the acting director of the institution may issue a decision on appointing the acting director for an additional period of three months in particularly justified cases, such as when the procedure for appointing the director and deputy director has not been completed and the like," it is not entirely clear how he does not find it problematic that the same person is appointed acting director three times in a row.

One of the questioned ministers proposed that another person be appointed as acting director, but the majority of ministers did not agree with this. Although the members of the Government of Canton Sarajevo knew at the time of Mešić's appointment as acting director in September that investigative activities were being conducted, and they were also aware of the information from the Office for the Fight against Corruption of Canton Sarajevo, the prosecutor gave credence to the statements of the members of the Government of Canton Sarajevo, who all repeated the same sentence that they wanted to prevent harmful consequences for the Cantonal Administration for Inspection Affairs and that it was impossible to conduct the competition procedure within three months.

After this decision of the Prosecutor's Office of Canton Sarajevo, there is no obstacle for the Government of Canton Sarajevo, both this and any future one, to repeatedly appoint suitable personnel as acting directors until the final appointment to the director's mandate.