The Chairman of the Committee for the selection and monitoring of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and Coordination in the Fight against Corruption of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH Dušanka Majkić said today in Sarajevo that the agency has so far had pretty poor performance and because of it the perception of corruption in BiH has changed at all.
Majkić said this during a break of the conference on “Development and strengthening of the system of combating corruption”.
“That is why the capacity of the Agency should be intensified because it has not lived up yet to its potential. In addition to the Agency for the fight against corruption, there are other institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which together with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) are working on the implementation of the project to fight corruption,” said Majkić.
She added that there is the Committee for the monitoring of the Agency for the fight against corruption, which is an independent body of the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and “where there is a perception of corruption being the most problematic,” and that is the Audit Office which each year comprises a large number of audit reports.
“We received reports for 2013 and there are audit opinions that are negative, but someone for some reason does not allow for them to be negative but they amend them, and then they get the reserved opinion,” said Majkić.
She further explains that the project includes the Public Procurement Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Office of the Appeals, “which is another place that should analyze what is happening, because we know that corruption is related to public procurement.”
“We also have to highlight the communication with the BiH Prosecution that should analyze what the audit says, because if the prosecution does not work properly, then we throw away the money and the audit institutions and everything else that is invested has been in vain. The Council of Ministers will have to consider what are the problems with the audit reports,” said Majkić.
She added that the Parliament would have to be more accountable towards the audit reports, stating that all audit reports cannot be put in one session of the House and that this must not be a “secondary matter” but the most important question.
“The government at all levels has failed to create the perception that it has seriously addressed these issues, at least our experiences are such. All Balkan countries have this problem and all of them will have to show in concrete examples that they are dealing with it,” said Majkić.
She stressed that the issue is the lack of system, not just a lack of political will, and that the legislation still needs to work on that.
UNDP Senior Program Coordinator Armin Sirćo said that about six months ago they launched a project that aims at fighting and preventing corruption, and will last until June 2015.
Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to BiH Vibeke Lilloe pointed out that Norway has long been a partner of BiH in many areas.
“In the center of this cooperation is the rule of law. Corruption is a real problem in BiH and the country needs to fight it. Therefore, the Kingdom of Norway supported the project with approximately 290 000 BAM to enhance capacity and enable the BiH parliament to perform procedures and operations in a more transparent and accountable manner,” said Lilloe.
She stressed that it is essential to have international help in the fight against corruption, but it is more important to have domestic political will in order to succeed.
“The essence of this project is for the audit reports to be used in a better way and it is an ongoing process, and the Norwegian government is planning a project for the fight against corruption with the Office of the State Prosecutor of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” said Lilloe.
(Source: Fena)
