Bosnian leadership accused of lacking political will to combat corruption

BBC Monitoring Service, 27 February 2006
Text of report in English by Bosnian news agency Onasa website

Sarajevo, 26 February: Establishment of the rule of law, functional state structures,
with jurisdiction transferred from the international community, is the key challenge
that still lies before B-H, Transparency International B-H said in its annual report.

Commenting on repression of corruption and organized crime, the report states that
the past year was one of insignificant progress, due to the lack of political will
to systematically eradicate these negative social factors.

The primary cause for this is the involvement of the B-H political elite in illegal
activities.

The report states that a positive move in the year 2005 was the signing of the UN
Convention against Corruption. The initiative for the signing was started by the
TI B-H in November 2004, and it took a whole year of lobbying to get it signed.

The work of the B-H Court and Prosecution is also positive, especially the Department
for Organized Crime and Corruption of the B-H Prosecution, which processed numerous
cases involving former and present officials.

In the global Corruption Perception Index in 2005, B-H takes a position between
88 and 96 on the list of corrupted countries. For comparison's sake, in 2003, B-H
was at the 70th position.

TI B-H also conducted a global corruption barometer research in B-H. More than 70
per cent polled persons feel that corruption has a tremendous effect on politics
in B-H. More than 40 per cent expect an increase in corruption in the near future,
while more than 50 per cent believe that corruption in B-H has an adverse effect
on business.

During the year 2005, the TI B-H successfully realized four large and several small
projects, with the help of donations from Finland, Canada, Germany, the European
Union and Open Society Fund, working with citizens and institutions to help strengthen
institutional capacities.

Judging from the findings of TI B-H, corruption as a phenomenon is most evident
at the municipal and cantonal levels. Most of the corruption affairs in B-H could
not have happened without direct involvement or support from senior political officials,
states the report.

Privatization in B-H has been characterized by sales of state enterprises and banks
at the price of one euro without prior analysis or assessment, and in violation
of court verdicts, with death threats addressed to senior political officials, racketeering
and extortion.

Postponing of privatization of the so-called strategic enterprises has severe negative
consequences for the state. Public enterprises in most cases hold a monopoly, and
still mark losses of several million KM.

The citizens are the only ones suffering the consequences of this situation.

The report states that a strategic priority of B-H is to reform public administration,
which uses an incredible 70 per cent of public funds. Domains of public health and
education can certainly not be excluded from corruption, states the report, and
gives several suggestions to alleviate the problems.

During its work, TI B-H has faced numerous problems, including anonymous threats,
being stigmatized by certain state politicians as an organization working against
the state, and even threats of undertaking measures against TI B-H.

Source: Onasa news agency website

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