Annoucments

B&H Continues to Stagnate in the Fight against Corruption

Press releases ● 03 December 2013

Banja Luka, 3^rd December 2013 – Transparency International (TI) has published the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2012, according to which B&H is placed on 72^nd place on a list of 176 countries, and with a score of 42 (on scale from 0 to 100). B&H shares this place with Sao Tome and Principe, Brazil, Serbia and South Africa.

This result is still below the average of 50, and B&H is found among the countries with dangerous levels of corruption that impacts all segments of the life of its citizens. CPI continues to show that B&H has made no breakthrough in the fight against corruption.

In comparison with countries in the region, B&H is on the scale below Slovenia at 44nd place, Croatia at 58^th place, Montenegro and Macedonia that share 67^th place with a score of 44, shares its position with Serbia, while only Kosovo is under B&H at 111^th place.

As in earlier years, the CPI shows again that B&H stagnates in the fight against corruption, and that there are no serious efforts by authorities that could affect the CPI. This is proven by the collapse of anti- corruption laws, lack of final convictions for offenses of corruption and lack of implementation of strategic documents for the fight against corruption.

Although the CPI and all other relevant research for years indicate a decline or stagnation of B&H, responsible institutions and governments in B&H have even ignored the warnings of the EU that the fight against corruption would be a key factor in B&H’s accession to European Union, due to which, even 20 years lather B&H is just beginning to establish a system of responsibility towards its citizens.

Conference on ’the Media and the Fight against Corruption’

Press releases ● 29 November 2013

The aim of the conference is to analyze the level and quality of investigative journalism in fighting corruption in B&H and the region, and problems that media are facing.

Motives for organizing the conference on ‘The Media and the Fight against Corruption’ are increasingly common attacks on journalists who are trying to report objectively on cases of corruption, due to which there are less independent media outlets and journalists.

During the conference, it will be pointed out on some of the positive examples from the region, where journalists successfully overcome obstacles and gain reputation by indicating on corruption and its effects, at the same time resisting the pressures. Also, the guidance on how to indentify corruption and all its forms will be given to journalists in order to make them more competent in reporting corruption.

The panelists of the conference will be journalists who imposed themselves by their integrity among the competition, and who through their work successfully reported corruption. Those participants will share their own experiences, recalling the circumstances in the political arena and in society in general and giving recommendations to improve the situation of corruption reporting in B&H, and the region,

The conference will be held on 9^th December 2013 at the Hotel Europe in Sarajevo, at 15:00 pm. After the conference, the appetizer will be served with the aim of celebrating the International Anti-Corruption Day.

Regional Conference on Conflict of Interest

Press releases ● 12 November 2013

As in many other areas, countries in the region have made significant progress in comparison with B&H in terms of preventing and sanctioning conflict of interest of public officials. Since the Law on Conflict of Interest was adopted 11 years ago, the only visible initiatives were taken to further weaken the legal framework, including the recent amendments to the act.

Considering this fact, the regional conference on conflict of interest intents to exchange experiences and examples between the countries of the region and this is an opportunity to create recommendations for improving the situation in B&H. It will be also discussed about the media coverage of this issue and corruption in general, as well as the control of assets decarations in the region, which presents the basis of the prevention of illegitimate enrichment of public officials.

Conference participants will be the representatives of the institutions for implementation of the laws on conflict of  interest – Central Election Committee, Commission for Determining Conflict of Interest in the Government of the Republic of Srpska, Commission for Prevention of Conflict of Interest of Montenegro, Anti-Corruption Agency Serbia, as well as the Association BH Journalists. Additional conference participants will be representatives of NGOs, the media, legislation and international institutions.

The conference will take place on Wednesday on 13November 2013 at 11:00 at Hotel “Bosna” in Banja Luka.

Unacceptable Influences on Judiciary

Press releases ● 31 October 2013

In this sense the most indicated example is the President of RS, Milorad Dodik and some members of the Government on the Court of Bijeljina. The President Dodik has manifested repeatedly this kind of pressure, threatening even the abolition of this court, and insulting the judge for a decision on confiscation of property of the company “Alumina”.

Also, the behavior of the Minister of Justice of FBiH, Zoran Mikulić, can be characterized as a direct and inappropriate influence and pressure on the work of the judiciary. Bearing in mind that he is suspected of abuse of power and obstruction of justice through unauthorized relocation of witnesses, he has exercised direct pressure on prosecutors work, practically interfering with judiciary.

TI BiH recalls that judicial institutions should function independently of the executive institutions and to have control over its operations, although political leaders in BiH increasingly show that in BiH executive power is controlling legislative and judiciary. In this way, the independence of the judiciary is directly threatened, having in mind that any decision of the judiciary, which is not in favor of the representatives of the government, causes threat, pressure and attacks.

TI B&H Calls on the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Ensure Full Protection of Whistleblowers

Press releases ● 22 October 2013

TI BiH hopes that the comments received during the public discussion will be adopted by the legislators, bearing in mind the necessity for more detailed provisions of the Act and its harmonization with the proposed draft Law on the state level.

In addition to the comments on the Draft Law on its non-compliance with the Law on the state level, which could cause problems in their application because of different definitions and objectives, TI BiH has pointed out to a number of fundamental deficiencies in the Draft that could leave space for its arbitrary interpretation and uneven application. The Law does not clearly define the authorities for protection of whistleblowers, bringing additional confusion and leading to a situation where more than one authority or none of them will be implementing the Law, leaving whistleblowers without adequate protection.

The Draft Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers of the FB&H contains provisions which could have deterrent effect on potential whistleblowers. For example, the Draft Law quotes that a whistleblower is ‘liable for disclosure of official, business and trade secrets’, which in practice may lead to a situation in which the employer could declare the incriminated activity, to which the whistleblower indicates, as an official or business secret. In that case, the whistleblower would suffer the consequences, regardless of the fact that the employer performing such activities would violate the law, what could have discouraging effect to the potential whistleblowers.  Deterrent effect can also have the provision according to which’’ the whistleblower is obliged to consider the damage that may occur from their reporting, especially if the public interest arising from the report itself exceeds the same’, and therefore it discourage the potential whistleblower at the beginning. Also, this provision does not comply with the provisions according to which the whistleblower would not suffer consequences if he reported corruption in reasonable belief.

Once again TI BiH reiterates its support to the initiative for adopting the law which would provide protection to whistleblowers, but it also warns and urges the legislators to take into consideration the comments of civil society organizations in order to overcome all deficiencies and ambiguities in the Law. If not, the Law would be difficult to apply, citizens would not be motivated to report corruption and whistleblowers would be left without any protection.

‘No Progress ‘Report Again

Press releases ● 17 October 2013

Confirming warnings of the TI BiH the report also notes the devastation of the legal framework for the fight against corruption, primarily the Law on Financing of Political Parties and the Law on Conflict of Interest, which complicates situation additionally.

Not only that there is complete ineffectiveness in prosecuting corruption cases, also the law enforcement agencies and judiciary are under complete control of political parties, to which TI BiH has warned for years. Due to the lack of political will it was not possible to expect significant progress in the realization of Anti-Corruption Strategy and strengthening of the Anti-Corruption Agency, and is therefore reasonably concluded in the report that the country is still in the initial stage of the fight against corruption.

“There is no doubt that this report as confirms well that the country does not make any progress, but the situation has worsened. The leaders of the ruling political parties are only to blame for this situation, who would do anything to obstruct the implementation of reforms in the country in order to protect themselves from prosecution for numerous crimes of corruption that they committed and are still committing,” said Srđan Blagovčanin, the Executive Director of the TI BiH, on the occasion of publishing of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2013 Progress Report.

Interest groups and networks which include politicians, business sector and the media, as well as the control of the political parties over the institutions, as stated, at the very beginning reduce the ability to detect and sanction corruption, and destroy the integrity of the institutions.

In the future, TI BiH will in direct communication with the EU, with the support of the International Secretariat of TI, insist on concretization of the conditions and objectives of the EU towards BiH regarding fight against corruption and introduction of the rule of law. It is evident that the country is in a crucial stage, and any delay in taking urgent measures can lead to complete collapse of the institutional framework and constitutional order in the country with unforeseeable consequences. TI BiH will therefore insist on exact definition of the roadmap towards EU, with the concrete cases of political corruption that need to be prosecuted.  The EU has already introduced such practice in some countries of the Western Balkans as one of the stages of the stabilization and accession process, before beginning of any negotiation.

“Obviously, we are at the stage when progress in fight against corruption is not possible without opening of the big political corruption cases involving highest ranking governmental officials, who therefore are trying to block implementation of the reform, and keep judiciary and law enforcement agencies under control in order to prevent their prosecution. That is why we need the EU to make the exact roadmap and precise list of political corruption cases which have to be processed, as was the case in Serbia,” concluded Blagovčanin.

Access to Information is still Limited

Press releases ● 28 September 2013

This analysis has been made with the aim of determining the level of implementation of the Law on Free Access to Information by nstitutions at different level.

In the first half of 2013 TI BiH has sent 77 requests for access to information referring to the Law on Free Access to Information at all levels of government. All requests were submitted upon the complaints of citizens which were sent to the Center for Legal Aid TI BiH. Each and every complaint was about inability of citizens to exercise their right to free access to information from public authorities. Out of 77 requests for information, 54 responses were received in accordance with the Law in expected period of 15 days. This represents an improvement compared to the previous years. TI BiH has sent 23 urgencies because of failure to comply with requests information within the legal deadline. After these urgencies, 11 institutions submitted their responses, and in three cases TI BiH failed a complaint due to the ‘’silence of administration’’.

Although, an improvement in the delivery of information is evident, public authorities do not submit their responses in the form prescribed by law, which leaves citizens without legal remedy and possibility to complain, and thereby extends the procedure to access to information.

Also, during 2013, TI BiH has filed 7 lawsuits against public authorities for noncompliance or incorrect implementation of the Institute of Public Interest. In many cases the institutions refuse access to information subsuming them under the exceptions, despite being obliged to carry out a public interest test first, and only then they can deny access to information on the basis of exception. Public authorities do not often make difference between information and personal data, and protection of personal data is placed before the Law on Free Access to Information.

During 2013, four administrative disputes, commenced previous years and related to the implementation of the Law on Free Access to information, were ruled in favor of TI BiH. Three cases were related to the ‘’ administrative silence’’ of the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Interior of RS. They refused to provide information about the number of civil servants, and the Government of RS refused to provide information on which basis, under the item ’’Current grants for non-profit organizations,  ‘’ Nezavisne novine’’ as LLC was assigned 50.000 KM.  The District Court in Banja Luka, in all three cases, has ruled in favor of TI BiH, sentences were executed, and sued authority reimbursed the cost of an administrative dispute to TI BiH.  The fourth dispute, related to the lawsuit that Ti BiH filed against the Ministry of Interior of the RS due to incorrect implementation of the Law on Free Access to information, also ended in favor of TI BiH.

Although, the progress of institutions in their response to the requested information is significant, the problem of arbitrary interpretation of legislative provisions remains, as well as misuse of the exceptions and non-implementation of the public interest test. Also, the problem of laws inconsistency on the state and entity level remains unsolved, especially with regards to introduction of sanctions.  It is evident that there is a lack of awareness of the institutions in BiH about the importance of free access to information as one of the fundamental human rights and precondition for the responsible acting of public institutions.

Street Event on the International Right to Know Day

Press releases ● 27 September 2013

On this occasion, TI BiH will again inform citizens about their rights when addressing the institutions and finding information, and how to exercise these rights.  The right of free access to information is considered to be one of the fundamental human rights in all democratic countries, and it is guaranteed by every international document that regulates human rights.

During theevent, citizens will have an opportunity to ask questions and to fill in a request for information for the institutions on the TI’s stand.

Street action will take place on Saturday 28^th September 2013. on Krajina Square in Banja Luka, starting at noon.

Conference in the Occasion of the International Right to Know Day

Announcements ● 26 September 2013

TI BiH is organizing a conference in order to analyze and determine progress achieved so far in the field of Freedom of Access to Information in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in other countries in the region, focusing on civil society and the media. The main goal of the conference is to emphasize current conditions of the implementation of the right to free access to information in BiH and the region, and to give an overview of this right as well as its importance in the global context.

The conference will focus on the civil society organizations that have used the mechanisms to access to information in their work since the very beginning of the Right to Know Day, and on the role of the media in the dissemination of information.

The representatives of the civil society organizations and/or Information Commissioners from the region, international experts, civil society organizations and the media will take part in the conference and they will give their view on the importance of openness of information. The conference will be held on Friday, 27^th September, at 10 am, at the Hotel Europe in Sarajevo. The agenda is attached below.

Conference on the Occasion of the International Day of Freedom of Access to Information

27^th September 2013.

the Hotel Europe, Sarajevo

The agenda

It is Necessary to Harmonize the Draft Laws on Whistleblower Protection

Press releases ● 25 September 2013

Large number of comments that TI BiH has referred to the Parliament of the FBiH are related precisely to the non-compliance of its provisions with the Draft Law on the state level- the definition of legal terms indicates that the federal and the state Draft Law have completely different concept on whistleblower protection what may lead to contradictory and wrong interpretation of the Law and its implementation. For example, the Draft Law of the Federation BiH provides protection only during administrative and judicial proceedings, while state Law also determines the competent authority.

Except non-compliance with the Draft Law on the state level, the Draft Law on Whistleblower Protection of the Federation of BiH contains provisions which may have a deterrent effect on potential whistleblowers. For example, it is stated in the particular form of the whistleblower protection that ‘’ the whistleblower is obliged to consider the damage that may occur from thier reporting, especially if the public interest arising from the report itself exceeds the same.’’ TI BiH considers that this formulation of the Law cannot stimulate potential whistleblower in any case, because insufficiently defined terms regarding damage and public interest have been introduced.

In addition, it is stated in the Draft that the whistleblower is ’’liable for disclosure of an official, business or trade secrets,’’ which in practice may lead to a situation where the employer could have incriminated activity, to which whistleblower indicates ,declare as an official or business secret. In that case the whistleblower would suffer the consequences, regardless of the fact that the employer performing such activities would violate the law, what could have discouraging effect on the potential whistleblowers.

The Law does not define clearly the authorities for whistleblower protection. This may cause additional confusion and may lead to the situation where more than one authority will be implementing the Law or will not exercise any leaving the whistleblower without adequate protection.

While supporting the initiative for the adoption of legislation which would provide protection for whistleblowers, TI BiH once again urges the legislators to harmonize the Law on the federal and the state level and to eliminate these deficiencies or the Law will lose its purpose, people will not be motivated to report corruption and whistleblowers will be left without any protection.

TI BiH is organizing a Presentation of Public Policies for Local Government

Announcements ● 23 September 2013

In the final stage of the project on ‘’ Monitoring and Advocacy for Good Governance in BiH Municipalities’’, TI BiH is organizing presentation of three analyses of public policies regarding the issue on improving integrity in local government, cooperation with non-governmental organizations, and local public enterprises.

Presentation of the analyses of public policy presents an opportunity to answer the following questions:

1)      How to get to the plans for integrity on local level- systemic approach to improving integrity of local government;

2)      The local government and non-governmental organizations- how to improve cooperation?

3)      Local public enterprises in BiH- a problem that is not known enough.

The aim of the project is to improve the governance and increase transparency in municipalities across the country through the monitoring of public policies and their practice, and through advocacy based on analyses and research. Furthermore, providing specialized knowledge for local leaders, citizens and civil society organizations, on how to force the local government to be accountable and improve, the aim of the project is to build the capacities of the local people to achieve high quality, efficiency and effectiveness of local administration, which will lead to grater inclusion of citizens, transparency and accountability.

[:bs]Neophodno suštinski unaprijediti prijedlog Zakona o zaštiti lica koja prijavljuju korupciju

Press releases ● 17 September 2013

The role of the Audit Institutions ignored, and their reports without any effect

Press releases ● 19 August 2013

Unlike most countries in the European Union, legal, political and regulatory grounds for the work and jurisdiction of audit institutions in BiH has not been set in the current Constitutions / Statutes of the Entities and Brčko District, and they are not familiar with the functions of the public and parliamentary monitoring of the executive authorities, public institutions and public finances. Without constitutional grounding, independency and expertise of the SAI in BiH has been left to the will of the political leaders and parties, their parliamentary majority, making of the audit institutions a possible target for illegal influences of the executive authorities, political leaders and parties.

The results of a comparative research of the financial audits in BiH show huge differences in annual and three-year structure and trends of opinions and ratings given by the financial auditors. So, in the period from 2010 to 2012 the highest shares of positive audit opinions were given by SAI BiH (78%), followed by the Supreme Office for the Republic of Srpska Public Sector Auditing (37 %). The lowest share of positive audit opinions was given by SAI FBiH (0%) and the Office for Brčko District Pubic Administration Auditing (14%). The highest share of negative audit opinions were given by SAI FBiH (22%) and the Office for Brčko District Pubic Administration Auditing (14%), and the lowest by SAI BiH (1,5%) and the Supreme Office for the Republic of Srpska Public Sector Auditing (2,3%). In the past three years the most reviews with the ‘’qualified audit opinion’’ has been given by SAI FBiH (77%) and the Supreme Office for the Republic of Srpska Public Sector Auditing (59%). During the past three years the number of the negative audit opinions has slightly increased in SAI BiH and SAI FBiH, and decreasing in the Supreme Office for the Republic of Srpska Public Sector Auditing and the Office for Brčko District Pubic Administration Auditing. The number of positive audit opinions is increasing in SAI BiH and the Supreme Office for the Republic of Srpska Public Sector Auditing, stagnating in the SAI FBiH and decreasing in the Office for Brčko District Pubic Administration Auditing.

Financial audits in all four SAIs fail annually to cover even 10% of the institutions and organizational units of the public sector in BiH- from about 2500 organizational units only 200 to 220 financial audits are conducted annually, so off the radar of the financial control are often business of the local institutions, public enterprises, the entity, cantonal and municipal institutions on the periphery (educational organizations, social welfare, health institutions, hospitals, clinical centers, institutes, departments and agencies).

An additional problem is lack of effects of the audit reports- their weak and unprofessional use in the parliament, particularly during the process of the budget adoption or the budget execution reports, as well as the constant absence of the consequences for irresponsible and nontransparent management of the public institutions.  The main reason for this situation is the absence of will and responsibility of the members of the Assembly to oversee the work of the government in BiH, as well as the lack of the systematic cooperation mechanisms between the audit institutions and judiciary with the aim of sanctioning illegal and irresponsible spending of public funds. Auditor’s recommendations are not followed by the public institutions- annually about half of the recommendations remain unrealized or partly realized, which leaves a great impact on the truthfulness and accuracy of the accounting records and the management of the public finances.

It is necessary to mention the Amendments to the Law on Public Sector Auditing of the Republic of Srpska prepared by the RS Government and the Ministry of Finance, which is a secret to most Members of Parliament and members of the Parliamentary Committee responsible for the revision of the RSNA, and for the auditors of the SOA of the RS. The very way of making the Law raises doubts that the new solution will be able to maintain the current level of independency of the SOA of the RS or harmonize the external audit of the public sector in BiH, but just the opposite.

Based on the findings of the Monitoring, it is clear that representatives of the legislature and the executive authorities in BiH sill do not take seriously the role of the Supreme Audit Institutions, and there is no interest in establishing the efficient control over the expenditure of public funds, while at the same time they are trying to achieve stronger control over the findings.

No Progress in Prosecuting Corruption in BiH

Press releases ● 25 July 2013

The Data show that in the work of prosecutors the increase of number of reports was noted, but there has been a reduction in the number of reports of corruption and criminal offenses against official and other duties (on average 2.3 percent of the total number of applications).

It is the same situation with the number of investigations by the prosecutor’s office, which had increased the total number of investigations of corruption cases 2012 in relation to the 2011 (1464 to 2012, compared to 829 in 2011.).

However, these investigations have not yielded sufficient results due to the fact that there has been stagnation in terms of the number of indictments for crimes of corruption and that the number of indictments for corruption in number of 223 during the 2012 was disproportionately small compared to the number of investigations conducted by these crimes – 1464.

Also, the share of 1.4 percent of confirmed indictments for corruption offenses in relation to all the other confirmed indictment is extremely low, and when even the figure of 223 confirmed indictments for corruption offenses brought in connection with a number of 74 in regular court in BiH, it is clear this is indeed a very small number of confirmed indictments.

In terms of the total number of judgments rendered by the courts there has been noticeable increase in the volume of work, but no significant changes in the number of convictions for corruption.

Except in the Brčko district, at all levels, there has been a reduction in the number of convictions for offenses of corruption.

As in earlier period, the additional problem is lacking of cases about system corruption in which high level politicians would be processed.

When it comes to the structure of the convictions, the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council refused to provide information about the structure of the judgment, thereby violating the Law on Free Access to Information.

However, according to unconfirmed information held by TI BiH, there were no any significant changes.

During the year 2012, there was a total of seven prison sentences at all levels of the criminal offense of bribe-taking, while the abuse of power  was issued a total of nine prison sentences at all levels, which is certainly not a very high number compared to the pervasive problem of corruption.

Also, the convictions were mainly for cases of abuse at the lower levels, while absent epilogues for cases at higher levels.

Monitoring of prosecuting the corruption also included confiscation of the illegally acquired property.

TI BiH data show that in the 2012 there was a significant decrease in the number of cases in which the illegally acquired property  was taken compared to the 2011 (57 compared to 228), and in the period 2011-2012  there has been a drastic reduction in the financial worth of the confiscated properties (in the period 2009 -2010).

Confiscated assets amounted to about 30 million, while for the period 2011 to 2012  was taken only about 5.6 million ( a decline of about 80%).

Lately BiH citizens witnessed numerous arrests and announced investigations in cases of high corruption, but are absent epilogues of these cases, which clearly proves that the fight against corruption in BiH is only demagogic and no real results.

The negative trend of justice efficiency continues for years, which indicates the presence of systemic corruption in BiH which obstruct any progress and or change, reflecting the end of the work of the judiciary.

TI BiH Strongly Condemns Interrogation of Journalists

Press releases ● 19 July 2013

Namely, according to the media in BiH, a journalist and an editor of the portal ‘’Istinito’’ and magazine ’’Respekt’’, Željko Raljić was taken for interrogation because of publishing news about posters plastered around Banja Luka, which were criticizing the authorities in the RS.

Journalists have every right to protect their sources of information, and at the same time plastering of posters and expressing opinion on the authorities is not a criminal offence so the Ministry of Interior is not authorized to persecute these perpetrators. It is clear that in this way the Ministry of Interior puts itself openly in protection of the persons criticized by the posters and violates the fundamental human rights, openly putting pressure on the media.

Citizens are Losing Trust in the Institutions

Press releases ● 09 July 2013

Banja Luka/Berlin, 9^th July 2013- Transparency International has published the results of the Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) for 2013, carried out in 107 countries including Bosnia and Herzegovina.  The GCB is public opinion survey on corruption and bribery, and it presents citizens’ attitude to presence of corruption within different institutions.

GCB for BiH has shown this year that majority of citizens think that the level of corruption has worsened in the past two years- 34% think that corruption has increased a lot, 31% think that it has slightly increased, and 27% think that it has remained the same. This survey shows that the institutions people rely on to fight against corruption are themselves not trusted. This can be proven with the fact that 31% of citizens believe that the authorities are extremely ineffective in the fight against corruption, 39% believe that authorities are ineffective, 23% believe that they are neither effective nor ineffective, while only 6% believe that they are effective and only 2% believe that authorities are very effective.

On the other side, most of the citizens agreed that the state is being run by the several entities acting in their own interest- 21% think that the state is completely run by these individuals, and 46% think it is largely run by these self-interest groups. BiH citizens also believe that personal contacts are very important to get things done, and vast majority of 85% believe that corruption in the public sector is a serious problem.

When it comes to the perception of corruption by sectors, as in previous years, political parties are perceived to be most corrupt (48% consider them extremely corrupt, and 30% consider them highly corrupt). They are followed by medical and health services (48% and 29%), parliament/legislature (38% and 29%), then police, public officials/civil service and the education system. NGOs, military and religious organizations are considered to be the least corrupt.

The fact that 28% of people in order to receive some of the public services have paid the bribe, mostly to the medical and health services and to the police, is devastating. Most of these respondents (41%) claimed that they have paid the bribe to expedite services, 30% have paid the bribe to express gratitude for services or as a gift, 18% because they could not get services done in any other way, 11% in order to get cheaper services. When it comes to the reporting of corruption 63% of the respondents claimed that they would be willing to report an incident of corruption, the majority of them 47% would do so over the line for reporting corruption, while only 27% would dare to report the incident to the institutions. The respondents who claimed that they would not report the incident, 37% of them, as a reason for not doing so, indicated that their application would not have any effect (56%), which further confirms the luck of trust in the institutions which are supposed to fight against corruption.

These findings confirm the warnings of the Transparency International BiH about increasingly alarming level of corruption in BiH and constant drop of public confidence in the system. A large number of the incidents of corruption confirm that it has become a parasite that eats up each and every segment of society and BiH citizens have felt the greatest consequences. The GCB’s findings from the countries in the region have shown that most citizens consider that the level of corruption has dropped and the level of trust in the institutions has risen in the last two years, suggesting that BiH cannot expect different opinion of its citizens and their greater willingness to engage in the fight against corruption until they do not witness more decisive prosecution of corruption at all levels , starting from political corruption which is considered to be the most problematic.