Almost 70 million marks for the purchase of the building of the BiH Indirect Taxation Administration in Banja Luka was approved by the BiH Council of Ministers at an extraordinary session. The building has been on SNSD’s wish list for several years, and the necessary money was approved, coincidentally or not, only a day after the meeting of the ruling coalition at the state level. At the same time, the announced reform laws, the one on courts and prevention of conflicts of interest, were removed from the agenda. Instead of a discussion, an additional harmonization of laws was agreed. So again, a lot of talk without results, at least those in favor of the state and citizens.
The Directorate for Indirect Taxation of Bosnia and Herzegovina will get a new building in Banja Luka. By allocating the money, the BiH Council of Ministers started the procedure. This has been the wish of the SNSD for many years, and the first step of the ruling coalition after the joint meeting. A request that has been ignored for years has now, overnight, although unplanned, been added to the agenda. After the distribution of money, the Council of Ministers of BiH did not say a word about reform laws. Although it was announced, they were removed from the agenda. The Draft Law on Courts and the Draft Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest are again pending. This time the justification is additional harmonization.
“All these laws, including the laws on courts, will remain in the domain of the newly formed working groups for the rule of law and the judiciary, based on the agreement of the leaders. I believe that we will have harmonized legal regulations within that period, so that we can enter into the discussion, both in the Council of Ministers of BiH and in the PSBiH at the end of August”, said the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH Staša Košarac (SNSD).
What Košarac is now justifying by waiting for an agreed text, he clearly denied two days before the session. There was no agreement for the aforementioned laws, and Košarac unequivocally said that there will be no reform laws without consultation with the representatives of the RS in the BiH Council of Ministers. If, on the other hand, this draft is agreed upon and adopted, there could be bigger problems in BiH judiciary.
“Given that certain criminal acts are specified in such a way – what was the remark – that, for example, acts of major corruption that are completed within the entity’s borders should also be judged within the entity’s borders. We will see what kind of results it will produce”, explains lawyer Vlado Adamović.
The results could lead to the fact that the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina will not be competent to process criminal acts of corruption that were committed only in one entity. In short, the jurisdiction of the state judiciary would be reduced. In the meantime, while reform laws are pending, proposals from the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH have also been blocked. This is a condition of the SNSD for appointing Srđan Amidžić to the leading position of that ministry.
