TI BIH: Citizens Most Often Report Corruption in State Administration; They Trust the Non-Governmental Sector More Than Official Institutions

Banja Luka, March 7, 2023 Transparency International’s Legal Aid Center in Bosnia and Herzegovina handled 302 cases related to corruption and violation of citizens’ rights last year, which is 14% more than in 2021, and received over 1,560 calls from citizens who have sought legal assistance or advice. It is important to say that in the 37 initiated cases, the complainants belong to the category of “whistleblowers”, i.e. persons who report corruption in the workplace, and most of them are from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has not yet adopted a law on the protection of corruption whistleblowers.

The law exists at other levels, but the number of applicants who turn to the TI BiH address far exceeds the number of those who receive the status of protected corruption applicants from the competent institutions, which clearly shows that citizens have less and less confidence in the system.

The largest number of reports, 137 of them, was relating to the state administration sector, and citizens mostly reported cases of non-action by inspection bodies, irregularities in the employment processes in public and other institutions and public companies, and an increasing number of public tenders cancellations in order to avoid setting the top-ranked candidates.

When it comes to specific examples, after the action of TI BIH, administrative inspectorate found that the former director of the Institute for Public Health Zeljković was illegally employed as an expert advisor in the Republican Administration of Civil Protection of the Republic of Srpska, managed by his party colleague Milan Novitović. He changed the regulation to enable Zeljković and his deputy Nenad Ćuk to remain in office, and due to non-compliance with the orders of the administrative inspectors, a misdemeanor proceeding was initially initiated against Novitović followed by a criminal proceeding by the competent prosecutor’s office.

We remind that Zeljković’s trial began last year for illegal procurement during the pandemic in a case reported by the TI BiH in 2020.

TI BIH initiated 22 administrative disputes due to violations of the provisions of the Law on Freedom of Access to Information, and during 2022, 21 administrative disputes were resolved in favor of TI BiH. Of the more important cases, it is important to point out that TI BIH won a dispute against the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Srpska before the District Court in Banja Luka, which illegally hides the contract of the Banja Luka-Prijedor highway, but the government decided to ignore the court’s decision, which is why TI BIH launched a new administrative dispute.

In the election year, TI BIH submitted 79 reports to the Central Election Commission for violations of election legislation, 17 of which refer to misuse of public resources under new provisions imposed by the OHR. According to those provisions, among other things, sanctions were imposed on the mayor of Laktaši who organized a party rally during public works, as well as the mayor of Zenica who gave a political speech at a public event.

During the last year, TI BIH initiated 32 cases related to the existence of conflicts of interest before the competent institutions. In one of those cases, the Central Election Commission revoked the mandate of Aladin Ćerimović, a councilor in Velika Kladuša, who was in a conflict of interest on as many as four grounds. Also, the competent Commission determined that the former councilor in the Prnjavor Municipal Assembly, Bogoljub Sančanin, was in a conflict of interest because he led, at the same time, a municipal veterans’ organization that received more than the allowed BAM 100,000 per year from the local budget, and decisions are still awaited in several similar cases.

Also, the Commission for deciding on the conflict of interest at the BiH level has not yet decided on the TI BIH application against the former member of the BiH Presidency, Milorad Dodik, because the companies owned by his family do business with the state and receive significant incentives from the budget, which is prohibited by law. A decision is also awaited on a significant complaint against the current Minister of Justice of the Republic of Srpska, Miloš Bukejlović, who, before being appointed to this position, simultaneously held six positions that were incompatible on several grounds.

While on the one hand, evident violations of the law go unpunished for years, Bukejlović, from his new position as the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Srpska, is initiating changes to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Srpska, seeking to silence activists, journalists, media and civil society organizations that point to such phenomena. That is why TI BiH, in cooperation with civil society organizations, requested the withdrawal from the procedure of the law criminalizing defamation in the Republic of Srpska and introducing draconian penalties for “injury of reputation and honor”.

TI BiH believes that not only would these changes set back freedoms and introduce censorship, but with such judicial institutions that are subject to political influence, the criminalization of defamation would only further lead to the persecution and intimidation of those who point to corruption.

Press rls_07.03.2023_

TI BiH Legal Aid Center for 2022