In the past 16 months, the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has conducted more than 14 operations in cases with evidence from Sky/Anom applications, the majority of which relate to cases of high-level corruption and, as expected, these activities will result in indictments in 2023, with three high-level corruption indictments already filed since the beginning of this year.
Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milanko Kajganić spoke about these and other activities, with a focus on the fight against corruption and organized crime, today at a press conference in Sarajevo.
In this context, Kajganić referred to the operational action codenamed “Cluster”, which was implemented in cooperation with the police officers of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), and in which several persons were arrested, who are linked to misuses during the issuance of academic diplomas.
“We at the BiH Prosecutor’s Office consider this to be one of the most significant cases related to the fight against corruption in BiH,” said the chief state prosecutor, recalling that the investigation into this case was launched in 2021, with the use of special investigative actions.
In this way, as he stated, it became known that there is an organized criminal group in BiH that deals with the sale of diplomas, which is the basis of systemic corruption and a catalyst for any other corruption, including all spheres of work and activity in BiH.
According to Kajganić, the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina will do everything necessary to prosecute the persons linked to the mentioned illegal actions in accordance with the law and sanction them accordingly.
As part of these activities, several dozens of cases related to the questionable issuance of diplomas throughout BiH were documented, which, as estimated, is only the ‘tip of the iceberg’.
As it was said, the suspected persons have connected with certain persons from the countries of the region, and in this regard, it will be necessary to secure certain evidence through international legal assistance.
Regarding the results of the work of the BiH Prosecutor’s Office in 2022, Kajganić said that a report on this has been prepared and will be presented at the session of the HJPC BiH.
He reminded that one indictment for high-level corruption was filed in 2021, and three indictments for high-level corruption in 2023, while ten indictments for corruption were filed in other cases that were not qualified as high-level corruption.
He warned of the fact that there are people in law enforcement agencies who are prone to committing crimes, stating that in 2022, 14 police officers were arrested, as well as one judge and one lawyer, and at the beginning of this year, an employee of the BiH Prosecutor’s Office was also arrested.
At the same time, on the basis of Sky/Anom applications, three indictments were filed and one state minister and several employees of the ITA BiH were also deprived of their freedom.
Kajganić pointed out that the penal policy should be tightened when it comes to corruption cases, “because such punishments do not achieve general prevention, that is, mild punishments do not influence perpetrators not to repeat criminal acts, and potential perpetrators are not deterred.”
Responding to a journalist’s inquiry regarding the latest denial of genocide by Milorad Dodik, the President of the RS, and the non-prosecution of such cases, Kajganić stated that, among other things, the issue was considered in the above-mentioned Annual Work Report with the difficulties in regarding the (non) prosecution of such cases.
In this regard, he said that “no report was received from any of the police agencies about the committed criminal act related to the denial of genocide.”
He added that the prosecutors have so far made about 30 negative prosecutorial decisions in this regard, and that “no indictment has been filed because the prosecutors encountered certain difficulties in proving the existence of a criminal offense.”
He further explained that in connection with this, and due to the shortcomings of court practice, it was suggested to the centers for the education of judges and prosecutors that they need to hire international experts from the European Court of Human Rights or other European countries in order to start training prosecutors, judges and police officers in BiH in that area, Fena reports.
