Dragan Covic case shows all defects of the Law on Conflict of Interest

Transparency International in BiH believes that the inability of the Commission for Deciding on Conflict of Interest to act in case of Dragan Covic shows that it is illusory to expect a body, consisting of the MPs or party colleagues of the persons who are believed to be in conflict of interest, make unbiased decisions about this conflict.

Banja Luka, 13^th March 2018 – Croatian National Assembly (CNA) with the President Dragan Covic, the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, received more than BAM 16.000 from the cantonal budgets last year, it was indicated by the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIN). The Law on Conflict of Interest in institutions of BiH stipulates that the elected officials must not perform duties of the authorized persons within associations and foundations financed from the public budgets in the amount of more than BAM 10.000. Although this case was on the agenda, the Commission for Deciding on Conflict of Interest has not responded yet, since the sessions of the Commission were prevented from being held twice so far due to the lack of quorum. Quorum was also missing because the party colleagues of the President of HDZ were not present at one of the sessions. Prescribed ways of holding sessions and making decisions allow Commission to make an inter-party agreement and thus block the work of this body whenever the political interests of its members require such action.

Transparency International in BiH (TI BiH) thinks that this case only shows how illusory it is to expect a body, consisting of the MPs or party colleagues of the persons who are believed to be in conflict of interest, make unbiased decisions about the conflict. TI BiH believes that Cavic and CAN case only demonstrate the necessity to pass a new Law on Conflict of Interest that would prescribe an independent body, composed of experts selected through the public competition, to decide on conflict of interest. New Draft Law submitted to the parliamentary procedure by eight representatives of the House of Representatives extends the scope of persons to whom it would refer, covering thus larger number of situations that might be considered conflict of interest.

TI BiH urges MPs to urgently adopt a new Law on the Prevention of Conflict of Interest in order to finally regulate this issue in a way that effectively prevents unauthorized influences on performance of public functions, but also to establish new independent body which will function in a professional manner and with no political engagement.