Žiko Krunić resigns as Chairman of the Independent Board!

Žiko Krunić, Chairman of the Independent Board, has offered his resignation from this position, the Patria agency learns. According to unofficial information, Krunić justified his resignation with "obstructions in the investigation related to the attacks on Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić in Potočari on July 11, 2015."

In his written resignation, Krunić does not address the decision of the Conflict of Interest Commission, which recently determined that Krunić was in a conflict of interest while serving as Executive Director of RITE Ugljevik and simultaneously as Chairman of the Independent Board.

As our source reveals, this is most likely a political game by Krunić, who, we recall, is most responsible for Goran Zubac ending up in the defendant's seat as Director of the State Agency for Investigation and Protection, and at the very least should have been suspended. 

The competent commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina dealing with determining conflicts of interest, on December 7, 2016, fined Krunić for a conflict of interest and gave him a 30-day deadline to eliminate the reasons that led to the conflict of interest.

- It is determined that Žiko Krunić, while serving as Chairman of the Independent Board from March 17, 2014, to December 24, 2015, simultaneously performed the function of Director of the mixed holding company Elektroprivreda RS, parent company A.D. Trebinje, independent company mine and thermal power plant Ugljevik, and that from February 3, 2016, he performed the function of Acting Executive Director for Corporate Affairs, and from May 20, 2016, to the present, he performs the function of Executive Director – said Jasmin Emrić, Chairman of the Commission for Deciding on Conflicts of Interest.

Krunić is imposed a sanction of suspending the payment of part of his net salary in the amount of 30 percent, which he receives as Chairman of the Independent Board, for a duration of six months.

Krunić is given a 30-day deadline to eliminate the reasons that led to the conflict of interest, i.e., to submit his resignation from the position of Executive Director for Corporate Affairs and provide proof of this to the commission – added Emrić.

However, Krunić decided to submit his resignation to the Independent Board.

Earlier, the Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dragan Mektić, sought Krunić's dismissal given that in previous years he had blocked the dismissal of the Director of the Agency for Investigation and Protection of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SIPA), Goran Zubac. 

In April of this year, at a session of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Report of the Temporary Joint Commission of both houses of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina for reviewing the work of the Independent Board was discussed, which noted a series of irregularities in the work of the Independent Board.

The Independent Board is responsible for conducting the procedure for selecting candidates and proposing the dismissal of police chiefs and deputy chiefs of police bodies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, publishing competitions and reviewing candidate applications, selecting and submitting to the Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina the names of up to five candidates for chiefs and up to five candidates for deputy chiefs of police bodies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as reviewing complaints about the work of chiefs and deputy chiefs of police bodies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

This board has nine members who are elected from among representatives of judicial institutions, retired police officers, retired and active civil servants, and prominent experts from other areas of public life, in the fields of law, criminal sciences, and police affairs.

The Law on Independent and Supervisory Bodies of the Police Structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina clearly specifies that a candidate for a member of the Independent Board cannot be a member of a political party. It is known that Krunić is close to the SNSD.