The State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) is conducting checks on the People and Justice party. The checks are being carried out at the order of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as part of the investigation into international organized crime in the “Black Tie 2” case, the Prosecutor’s Office confirmed. In addition, the Audit Office has identified irregularities in the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Information on the financial checks of the People and Justice party, headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Elmedin Konaković, was confirmed by the State Investigation and Protection Agency.
“The State Investigation and Protection Agency has previously received a request from the Prosecutor’s Office relating to the conduct of certain checks regarding the People and Justice political party. At this stage, in the interest of further investigative activities, we cannot disclose details to the public,” says SIPA spokesperson Jelena Miovčić.
The People and Justice political party was founded in 2018. According to its founders, it was established, among other things, to shake up the political scene whose focus is on serving justice. The party’s financing in 2025 is linked to criminal activities, and checks are being carried out as part of the “Black tie 2” case.
“It is already known to the public that the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina is working on a case, which is known in the media as “Black tie 2″. The case is in the investigation phase in which several activities are being carried out. Given that the case is in the preliminary criminal proceedings phase (reporting or investigation phase), we cannot provide more information or details,” said the spokesperson for the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, Boris Grubešić.
People and Justice claim that they have not received any notification of any investigative activities. As they state in the statement, People and Justice is financed exclusively in a legal manner.
“The financial operations of People and Justice are orderly and have already been the subject of analysis by various state institutions. People and Justice is undergoing an audit of its financial operations conducted by the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The last audit by the CEC was conducted in March 2025, and none of the audits found any significant shortcomings,” the party said.
Before that, the Office for the Audit of the Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina published the official audit findings, which revealed abuses within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Ministry received a qualified opinion. The payment of donations, promotion and employment, internal representation, and use of official vehicles are questionable.
“We are unable to confirm the accuracy of the financial reports in the part of the Ministry’s fixed assets, receivables and liabilities, given that the list of assets and liabilities does not reconcile the actual balances with the balances in the General Ledger,” the Office for the Audit of the Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina stated.
The audit report also warns of the following.
“The Ministry is obliged to ensure that competent persons are employed in full capacity and continuously in systematized jobs, where there are significant business risks.”
Regardless of the audit reports, there is no political accountability in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Transparency International reminds us. They have previously pointed out certain irregularities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BiH.
“We drew attention to the part concerning public procurement, where in some cases they made the implementation of the negotiation procedure meaningless. They could absolutely have implemented the regular procedure because, as stated, the extreme urgency they referred to is not justified. No one resigned because some irregularities were pointed out, so I do not expect any political reaction in this case either,” says Srđan Traljić from Transparency International BiH.
According to the audit assessment, the situation in state institutions, ministries that are audited every year, is better than in previous years. TIBiH says that prosecutors’ offices should be more involved, as well as special departments dealing with crime and corruption, because without their action, audit reports remain an end in themselves.
