For years, there has been no progress or a more efficient approach of the judiciary in cases related to the sanctioning of corruption in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), said Transparency International BiH (TI BiH).
According to the executive director of TI BiH, Ivana Korajlic, the judiciary often faces political pressures, which additionally affect the efficiency of corruption processing. However, she adds, there is a huge discretion of the prosecutors for whom the case will be investigated, and for which not, without any special explanations. That is why, as she said, there is a selective approach that is practically enabled by the legal framework and laws that regulate the work of prosecutor’s offices.
There are several cases that have been dragging on for years without a specific epilogue, such as the case of the largest pharmaceutical company in BiH, “Bosnalijek”, in which investigations began in 2011 on suspicion of a crime. To date, several criminal charges have been filed in connection with the privatization and trading of “Bosnalijek” shares, and recently the director Nedim Uzunovic, whom the prosecution charges with money laundering, was arrested in connection with the ongoing investigations.
Apart from this, one of such perennial cases, Korajlic reminded, is related to Pandora, ie the Indirect Taxation Authority (ITA), which started ambitiously with a large number of people under investigation, a large number of accused, and later it was reduced to a small number or only one person. At one time, there were 40 arrested, searched, or only suspects who were brought in connection with crime at the ITA.
On the other hand, according to her, cases involving a large number of defendants are being dragged through the courts for procedural reasons – it is enough that one of the accused does not appear, hearings are postponed and there are several cases where trials last for ten years.
”On the one hand, you have the prosecutor’s office’s approach to “split” one big case in order to strengthen the norm, and on the other hand, if they don’t, if it all comes down to one case with a large number of defendants, then there are problems with the length of the process and these trials go on indefinitely,” Korajlic states.
She adds that they monitored trials for some cases of corruption, such as “Bobar” bank, a case that has been going on for years, where the courts for some defendants have changed, due to health reasons they were not present, did not come to hearings and the like.
According to unofficial information published by the media in BiH these days, the holders of judicial functions could face United States (U.S.) sanctions if the situation with the prosecution of corruption does not improve, BHRT writes.
E.Dz.
