Justice Minister Josip Grubeša's dismissal requested

(Patria) - At today's session of the Provisional Investigative Committee of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly for determining the state of judicial institutions in BiH, the dismissal of Josip Grubeša, BiH Minister of Justice, was proposed.

The initiative to send the proposal to the parliamentary procedure was proposed by Zlatan Begić, a DF MP in the House of Representatives of the BiH PA and a member of this committee, Fokus reports.

- The dismissal of the Minister of Justice in the Council of Ministers of BiH is proposed due to poor work results and failure to respond to the hearing before the Provisional Investigative Committee formed by the House of Representatives of the BiH PA, Begić stated.

This initiative was supported by six out of the seven present members of the Committee. These were Damir Arnaut (NS), Dragan Mektić (SDS), Zlatan Begić (DF), Branislav Borenović (PDP), Mira Pekić (PDP), and Zukan Helez (SDP).

No member of the Committee voted against it, and Alma Čolo, a member of this body and an SDA representative in the House of Representatives of the BiH PA, explained her position on why she abstained from this proposal.

- I am sorry, but since I am the only one from the opposition, I will abstain. I also believe that the minister has done nothing in this mandate. I cannot assess whether his absence from the Committee was intentional. You have enough votes to pass such a conclusion, Čolo said before the vote on the proposal to dismiss Grubeša.

Begić replied to Čolo, reminding her that DF is also in the ruling coalition, but that this is not an obstacle for him to seek the dismissal of any minister in the Council of Ministers of BiH if they are not doing their job.

- I respect Ms. Čolo's position, but I would remind you that DF also has a minister in the Council of Ministers of BiH and we are part of the government. However, I am prepared to propose the dismissal of a minister from DF if they are not doing their job properly, Begić said.

Branislav Borenović, a Committee member from PDP, stated that Minister Grubeša, by not appearing before the Committee and refusing to cooperate with this body, has shown that he respects neither the Committee nor the decision of the House of Representatives on its establishment.

- I read an email from Minister Grubeša when he confirmed that the date for the last session or the one a week later, i.e., for today or tomorrow, suited him, and then he informed us twice that the date did not suit him. I think this is extremely inappropriate, irresponsible, and unserious from someone who is a member of the Council of Ministers of BiH, Borenović said.

Damir Arnaut, the Committee's president and an MP from Our Party, stated that two dates for Minister Grubeša's hearing were scheduled based on correspondence with his office.

- Despite this, we received notification twice that the date did not suit him, even though we adhered to the dates proposed by the Minister of Justice. I am concerned by this attitude, Arnaut said.

Grubeša had initially announced his appearance at the hearing before the Committee at the last session, but half an hour before the start of the session, he announced that he would not come. Grubeša is a cadre of HDZ BiH, whose MPs in the House of Representatives did not support the establishment of the Investigative Committee, nor do they have members in it.