

International Anti-Corruption Day in Sarajevo. Photo: BIRN

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina filed only eight indictments against 23 individuals for corrupt acts this year, while the State Court – the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina – issued six corruption verdicts, including five convictions, following guilt admission agreements, data collected by the BIRN BiH show.

Besides being few in number, most of the corruption cases in Bosnia dealt only with low-ranking individuals and so-called petty offences, legal experts complain.

An expert report on the deficiencies of the rule of law in Bosnia, presented in Brussels last week, underlined this issue. The report said corruption cases prosecuted so far in Bosnia mainly “refer to petty corruption, and the sanctions imposed do not have an adequate effect”.

Many experts believe that the fact that only “petty” corruption cases are prosecuted in Bosnia’s courts is one reason for the widespread mistrust in justice felt by many citizens.

Marking International Anti-Corruption Day on Monday, December 9, a “march for the victims of corruption” took place in Sarajevo where demonstrators sent a message that the times of merely declarative support for the fight against corruption have long passed.

The marchers called for the dismissal of all members of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, HJPC, as well as the adoption of a law to protect corruption whistle-blowers in the larger of Bosnia’s two entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“We have gathered here on behalf of all corruption victims in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country in which you may bribe judicial authorities without any consequences and persecute whistle-blowers and trade in diplomas,” Mirna Stankovic-Lukovic, from the Center for Media Development and Analysis, an NGO, claimed in a public statement.

Among the many results of this, she added, was that “every second high school student is functionally illiterate”.

At a conference held in Sarajevo on International Anti-Corruption Day, the chief of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia, Kathleen Kavalec, said her mission was “working at all government levels to strengthen the relations between anti-corruption institutions and bodies, promote transparency of government and develop a relevant anti-corruption legislation”.

The US ambassador, Eric Nelson, told the same conference that while the citizens of Sarajevo were choking on “bad air” these winter days, “citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, throughout the country, are choking on corruption every day” – adding that this must be stopped and that the US government would support all those who fought corruption.

Presenting the expert report in Brussels, Reinhard Priebe, as BIRN BiH reported, said: “Specialized sections with prosecutors’ offices must begin dealing efficiently with high-level corruption cases.” The report said that widespread corruption in the public sphere and its strong link to organized crime was another big issue of concern.

Two of the corruption verdicts pronounced at state level this year referred to abuse of position and authority, as well as falsification of an official document by state employees.

Darko Marcetic, of the State Investigation and Protection Agency, SIPA, was sentenced to a total of one year in jail for misuse of position and authority and illegal use of personal data. He was also banned from working as a police officer for five years.

Cvijo Medic and Stojan Gligic, officers at the Indirect Taxation Authority, got suspended sentences of six months each for having falsified an official document.

Priebe’s report concludes, among other things, that the judicial system in Bosnia does not successfully deal with serious crimes and corruption and warns that none of the four existing judicial competencies functions adequately.

The report also notes that HJPC members sit on disciplinary commissions in cases against other HJPC members, which creates additional mistrust among citizens. “Such conduct, particularly at the top of the judicial system, gives a bad example and also spreads an atmosphere of insecurity and frustration among citizens,” the report says.

It recommended an in-depth review of unsuccessful cases with the aim of identifying systemic problems and creating a plan of action with strict deadlines.

In an interview last week with BIRN BiH, Bosnia’s chief state prosecutor, Gordana Tadic, promised the prosecution of high-ranking perpetrators of corruption by the end of the year.

Tadic noted that she had issued mandatory instructions for prosecutors to perform financial investigations in accordance with new recommendations, and added that corruption levels had been classified as high, medium and low for the first time ever.

The chief prosecutor said work on this type of crimes would be improved by the creation of a single section that would deal with organized and economic crime, corruption and terrorism.

In its report prepared on the basis of monitoring court proceedings in corruption cases in Bosnia during the past three years, published in April, the OSCE Mission warned that the judicial response to corruption in the country was very insufficient.

Marking publication of the report, the head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia, Bruce G. Berton, said: “Political and judicial leaders must unequivocally recognize that corruption is endemic in BiH and that the fight against this social plague will require the implementation of a coherent and comprehensive strategy, as well as their uncompromised attention for many years to come.”