Press releases

The administration Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, appointed by political lines

Press releases ● 15 July 2011

Sarajevo, July 15, 2011. – The House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, at the last meeting appointed the candidates for the Director of the Agency for the Prevention and Combat against corruption and his deputies by political lines, while there was no discussion about the ones proposed by the Commission for the selection and monitoring work of the Agency.

Namely, the Commission has submitted a list of 15 candidates and put forward three candidates with the highest score of votes – Ramiz Huremagic, Milan Krulja and Blanka Benkovic. However, members of the Parliament were not even asked about this proposal, but according to the agreement among political parties, they appointed Sead Liska for the Director and Dragan Slipac and Sreto Pekic for his deputies. It is necessary to mention that Sead Liska was only the third in the ranking, which was compiled by the Commission, Dragan Slipac was the sixth while Sreto Pekic was the last on the list of 15 candidates.

Transparency International of Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) condemns such act of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH because it completely stultifies the whole procedure which was regulated in terms of election of the administration Agency, and the work of the Commission for the selection and monitoring of the Agency was thus ignored and made completely unnecessary.

It is interesting that the election of directors of the Agency waited more than a year and then in one day political parties decided on who would be nominated, which implies that delay was completely unnecessary, and the current work of the Commission for the election represented a waste of resources.

Such approach to the appointment of the administration of the most important anti – corruption body in the country calls into question its independence in the future work and once again shows that all institutions are trying to put themselves under the control of parties, even those that should fight against such a control.

The House of Representatives has proved, also in this case, that procedures during the appointment of personnel, and references and the ability of candidates don’t have any importance when political influence is involved, which gives a negative example to BiH citizens and undermines confidence in institutions.

TI BiH calls on the competent institutions to examine the authenticity and legitimacy of this kind of election of the administration Agency and to prevent further attempts at controlling and politicizing the most important institutions in BiH.

Management of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption appointed by political line

Press releases ● 15 July 2011

A new attempt of a complete politicization of public administration

Press releases ● 14 July 2011

Sarajevo, July 14, 2011. — The new draft on the amendment to the Law on the Civil Service in the FBiH, which was made by a working group of the FBiH Government, represents inexplicable and unacceptable step, which is contrary to the principles of public administration reform and positive legal practice.

With this draft Law, the Government of the FBiH has continued the practice from the previous mandate, which was endeavored, with similar suggestions, to downgrade the reform of public administration and stultify the existence of the Act itself. By this proposed amendment to the Law on the Civil Service, there is a re-introduction of the principle of political appointments to positions that have had the civil service status up to now, as it is the case with the assistant ministers, which in this case could be dismissed at any time by the ministers themselves. With such a solution, some departments would virtually be under complete and unrestricted control of ministers and political parties, which they belong to.

Of particular concern are indications that this harmful solution is planning to be sent in the procedure in a matter of urgency, which means that the possibility of public hearings and recommendations would be eliminated again by the civil society and the public.

TI BiH urges the Government of the FBiH to reconsider the proposed solutions once again and to adopt the same ones toward the basic goals of public administration reform in BiH, and these are the strengthening of its independence, professionalism and efficiency.

A new attempt to completely politicize public administration

Press releases ● 14 July 2011

Judiciary in BiH is still ineffective in prosecuting corruption

Press releases ● 16 June 2011

Banja Luka, June 16, 2011. – Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) carried out a new analysis of prosecuting corruption in the courts and prosecutor’s offices in BiH for 2010. The analysis included available data on the number of investigations and convictions for crimes of corruption as well as on the reports on the work of the judiciary and the implementation of the law on confiscation of illegally acquired assets.

Data on the investigation initiated by prosecutors in BiH, indicate that, compared to 2009. there was  a reduction  in the total number of investigations, which also applies to investigations of corruption and criminal acts against official duties.

On the other hand, it is indicative, that comparing the number of reports with the number of investigations we get to the data that almost a third of reported acts of corruption completes with an investigation. A large number of rejected reports points to the poor quality of the collected evidence or to inadequate use of special investigative procedures that would lead to the indictment.

It is important to emphasize that the proportion of investigations, relating to criminal offenses of corruption, is extremely small in comparison with the total number of investigations, it is only 2%. On the other hand, although the number of indictments for corruption and abuse of a position increased over the previous year, still, their proportion of 1,5 % of the total number of indictments is unsatisfactory.

When it comes to the final outcome of indictment, i.e, court rulings, there is a noticeable stagnation in the work of courts, given that the number of acquittals and decisions of suspension has increased and nearly the same number of acquittals and convictions has been adopted as in 2009. When it comes to offenses related to corruption, still, their proportion of convictions for these crimes in the total number of convictions is less than 1%. This confirms that the number of convictions for corruption is still very low, and that in any case does not provide an adequate response from institutions to more dramatic level of corruption in the country.

On the other hand, there is a fact that, still, there haven’t been any convictions in the investigations that were being conducted against high-ranking officials, but these rulings are relating mainly to the cases of so called “ Petty’ corruption. This does not favor either the recent transfer of the investigation of corruption at the highest levels of government from state prosecutor’s office to lower instances, which in particular shows that the judiciary in BiH is yielding to political pressure and lacks in willingness to grapple with the prosecution of persons of authority.

The only progress was achieved through increasing the prison sentences imposed in cases of abuse of official position. However, when it comes to classic works of corruption, such as giving and receiving bribes, penal policy, they still have not changed, since two prison sentences were imposed for these offenses, and even 7 were suspended sentences. This statistic confirms earlier warnings of TI BiH that such penal policy cannot bring significant results to combat corruption and moreover, it has a stimulating effect on offenders.

Regarding the confiscation of illegally acquired assets, during 2010,. the property  was seized in approximately 220 cases amounting to about 17 million KM, of which 10 million was seized by the decisions of the Court BiH. However, there are still no information about how much are the amounts seized in criminal cases of corruption.

All these mentioned figures show that commitment and willingness of institutions still haven’t been shown in sanctioning corruption in an adequate way.

On the other hand, reports on the progress of BiH, that the European Commission publishes year by year, just highlight the need for more decisive prosecution of corruption, which is one of the key factors for the progress of BiH towards the European Union. When the results of research of citizen’s perception on corruption are added, which indicates not only their concern about corruption, but also a growing loss of their trust in judicial institutions, it is clear that it is high time for the judiciary in BiH to take more active role to combat corruption and to show greater efficiency in its prosecution, especially when it comes to corruption at higher levels of authority.

TI BiH pointed out to the European Commission the insufficient efforts of the authorities in the fight against corruption

Press releases ● 11 May 2011

TI BiH is organizing a two-day conference on financing of political parties and election campaigns

Announcements ● 28 March 2011

There is still no progress in the implementation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy

Press releases ● 21 March 2011

TI BIH presents the second report on the implementation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy

Press releases ● 19 March 2011

Negligence and frivolity of judiciary in Čović-Lijanovići case

Press releases ● 09 March 2011

Sarajevo, March 9, 2011 — In accordance with report of Centre for investigative journalism (CIN), which states that some of original documents from prosecutor’s file in case Čović- Lijanovići are missing, Transparency International BiH (TI BiH) requests immediate investigation and determination of  responsibility of perpetrators of this criminal offense. As stated in CIN report, Prosecutor’s office of Sarajevo Canton determined in June 2010 that 40 original documents in this case were missing.

Apart from the fact that judiciary institutions are showing negligence and frivolity, especially considering that this is the case of high-level position abuse, examples like this are curbing citizens’ confidence into judiciary system even more. For that reason, only an immediate investigation and sanctioning of those responsible for these serious omissions can lead to bringing back the citizens’ trust in thework of judiciary.

The fact that investigations of highly positioned political and public officials in BiH are taking years and have no results is certainly not strengthening citizens’ confidence in the work of judiciary. Considering disastrous penalty policy at BiH courts and the fact that even in very few vindicated cases of corruption courts adjudge probation in 2/3 of cases, along with the fact that, according to the latest data, only 9 final verdicts for corruption were issued in the last year, it is clear that corruption processing in BiH remains acute problem. The latest Global Corruption Barometer by Transparency International indicates that 71% of citizens considers government’s efforts to combat corruption inadequate and judiciary in BiH were rated by citizens with 3,5 on the scale from 1 to 5.

This confirms that citizens themselves are aware of concerning casualness of BiH judiciary regarding corruption prosecution, which was proved by the fact that documents from Čović-Lijanovići case, where former Minister of finance is charged with abuse of office and enabling the gain of 1,8 million KM for the Lijanović family, were simply lost. For this reason, TI BiH once again appeals on judiciary to show seriousness in this case, in order to prevent similar failures in the future.[:] (more…)

[:bs]Nemar i neozbiljnost pravosuđa u slučaju Čović-Lijanovići

Press releases ● 09 March 2011

Održane konsultacije predstavnika civilnog društva i institucija o praćenju Strategije za borbu protiv korupcije

Press releases ● 23 February 2011

Most reports of corruption in employment

Press releases ● 21 February 2011

Applications received at the Transparency International BiH Center for Legal Aid to Citizens in the Fight against Corruption in 2010. point out that citizens are denied daily employment and property rights, as well as the right to access information, due to corruption, and their complaints and reports are ignored by the institutions.

TI BiH is organizing a presentation of Anti-corruption Strategy implementation

Announcements ● 22 December 2010

Sarajevo, December 22, 2010 – along with presentation of findings of monitoring of Anti-corruption Strategy implementation, there will be discussion about mechanisms contained in Strategy, in order for better understandingof anti-corruption measures and policies, dialogue and cooperation between institutions, along with setting the recommendations for better and more efficient appliance of anti-corruption measures.

Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina, within its project “Monitoring of the implementation of BiH Anti-Corruption Strategy 2009-2014“, is organizing a workshop and a presentation of the first periodical report of Strategy implementation so far.

Along withthepresentation of results of monitoring, there will be a discussion about mechanisms setwithin the Strategy, in order for better understanding of anti-corruption measures and policies, engaging in the dialogue and cooperation between institutions, along with making the recommendations for better and more efficient appliance of anti-corruption measures.

Representatives of all institutions enlisted in the Strategy, such as Anti-corruption Agency, Parliamentary Assembly, Ministry of Security BiH, courts and prosecutors’ offices are expected to be present at the workshop, along with civil society organizations, media and international organizations.

The presentation will be held on Thursday, December 23, startingat 11 a.m. in Hotel Europe and it will be open for media.

Agenda

Presentation of Anti-corruption Strategy 2009-2014 implementation

Transparency International BiH

December 23, 2010, Hotel Evropa, Sarajevo

11.00 a.m.

Creativity vs. Corruption

Announcements ● 09 December 2010

Banja Luka, December 9, 2010 – In the occasion of December 9, International Anti-corruption Day, TI BiH is organizing exhibition of works that illustrate problem of corruption. The exhibition is result of cooperation with artists and students through workshops and competition.

As part of its activities aimed at celebrating December 9, International Anti-corruption Day, Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina is organizing exhibition of worksthat should illustrate corruption, that are a result of work with artists and high school students, with the aim of presenting the problem of corruption from citizens’ point of view.

Exhibition titled Creativity breaks corruption will be held in Muzicki paviljon in Banja Luka, starting at 11 a.m. It will present works that were submitted through competition, organizedjointly by TI BiH and Buka portal, along with works of high school students and artists that participated through workshops.

TI BiH strived to show different types of creative expression that introduce presence of corruption and its consequences for BiH society, and also to motivate citizens to think about this problem and its overcoming from different angles.

Awards for competition winners will be given at the exhibition, and short documentary made by high school students in cooperation with TI BiH will be also presented.TI BiH is inviting all the citizens to come and join the fight of creativity against corruption.

TI BiH is launching initiative for amendments to the Law on Political Finance

Press releases ● 11 November 2010