Appointments soon: Vuković director of SIPA, Cikotić and Lazić taking over OSA?

For months, the media has been dragging out the saga surrounding the appointments of the heads of the two most important state police and intelligence agencies. In its latest issue, the newspaper Press published the names of possible candidates for these positions. The former commander of the RS Special Police, Ranko Vuković, who is currently in the position of chief inspector in the RS Police Administration, is the most serious candidate for director of the State Investigation and Protection Agency of BiH (SIPA), Press learns, as reported by the news agency Patria.

In addition to Vuković, the narrowest circle of candidates includes Perica Stanić, currently an advisor to the RS police director, then the head of the VIP Protection and Foreign Delegations Department in the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of BiH, Relja Kovač, as well as the head of internal control in the Posavina Canton Ministry of Interior, Davor Vidović.

According to claims from a well-informed source of Press from the top of the SDS, Ranko Vuković, who replaced the current RS Minister of Interior, Dragan Lukač, as the first special forces officer of the RS in 2004, has already spoken with several people from the top of the SDS about the possibility of taking the seat of the recently dismissed Goran Zubac.

Goran Lujić out of the game!

The former police chief of Brčko District, Goran Lujić, was mentioned as one of the serious candidates for the future director of SIPA, but he is out of the game.

- Lujić relied on the support of his fellow citizen from Brčko and the head of the SDS, Mladen Bosić, but after he was suspended in April this year, because the Brčko Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation against him for endangering public traffic and abuse of position, Lujić no longer has even a theoretical chance to be SIPA director. He is accused of causing a traffic accident in June last year in the Kolobara settlement in Brčko District, after which the report was falsified and it was stated that the accident was caused by another police officer who was driving a car used exclusively by Goran Lujić - explains the Press source.

- Vuković has the best chance to succeed Zubac, but nothing has been specified yet. When the competition is announced, it will be known who the new SIPA director will be. Despite the fact that this position should be held by a professional, politics, nevertheless, has the final say, and by agreement of the parties that make up the government at the BiH level, this position belongs to the SDS. Before the competition is announced, talks will be held with all potential candidates and it will be defined who will be the director, so it is quite realistic that in the end only one candidate will apply, that is, only the one who will have political support for election to that position - explains our interlocutor.

Strict conditions

He adds that all mentioned candidates have a chance to take Zubac's seat, because they all meet the conditions and strict criteria for the selection of the SIPA director, but that Vuković is the biggest favorite.

- Candidates must be police officers with a higher education degree, must hold the rank of chief police inspector or higher, as well as at least three years of work in the rank of chief police inspector or higher, and must not be members of a political party. Vuković, Stanić, Kovač and Vidović meet these conditions, while OSA employee Zoran Kusmuk from Pale, who was mentioned by some media as a candidate for SIPA director, does not have the required rank - explains our interlocutor.

According to his words, Zoran Kusmuk is one of the candidates for deputy director of OSA, which belongs to Serbs. In addition to Kusmuk, our source claims, one of the candidates for the position that Risto Zarić has held since the formation of OSA is the head of the Banja Luka detachment of the "service", Trifko Buha.

Who will succeed Risto Zarić?

- As a possible successor to Zarić, OSA worker from Brčko, Miroslav Škorić, is also mentioned, as well as Nebojša Lazić Zenga, who, in addition to being close to Milorad Dodik, also has the support of some SDS officials.

Lazić in the game

However, a new OSA director must first be elected since Almir Džuva's mandate expired long ago. The Americans have the final say on this, as well as on the selection of the SIPA director, and it has already been disclosed that CIA Director John Brennan, in a letter sent to the BiH Presidency, stated that the Americans are not pleased that Alija Izetbegović's wartime bodyguard and head of the OSA Secret Surveillance Department, Osman Mehmedagić Osmica, should replace Džuva. The most serious candidate for the top man of OSA, as Press was the first to report, is the former BiH Minister of Defense and SDA official, Selmo Cikotić - claims the Press interlocutor.