Negligence and frivolity of judiciary in Čović-Lijanovići case

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.[:]