The adoption of this year’s FBiH budget enables the largest investments from domestic financial resources in strengthening the judiciary of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the fight against corruption and organized crime, confirmed the President of the FBiH Government’s Anti-Corruption Team, Eldan Mujanović, speaking about the importance of the capital project foreseen in the Memorandum on Cooperation between the FBiH Government and the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) of BiH, which was recently signed by FBiH Prime Minister Fadil Novalić and the HJPC President Halil Lagumdžija.
This memorandum opened the door to the establishment and construction of the “Palace of Justice of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, and we asked Mujanović what this new facility would mean for the citizens as it is planned to house the Supreme Court and the FBiH Prosecutor’s Office with the Special Departments for the Fight against Corruption and Organized Crime and the Judicial Police.
“This judicial institution facility will meet all applicable standards of the HJPC. The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has planned significant financial resources, which in total amount is more than 23 million KM in the next few years.
It is the largest investment in the judiciary and the fight against corruption and organized crime from its own resources, domestic budget funds, which certainly gives it added value.
We should not lose sight of the fact that the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, through a special Action Plan for solving this problem, determined that property and income from confiscation of illegally acquired property will also be directed to these purposes, which is a very important dimension in the fight against corruption and organized crime,” explains Mujanović.
Since 2015, the Law on Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime has been in force in the Federation of BiH, which, unfortunately, has not been implemented, mainly due to the impossibility of finding a solution acceptable to all parties for the placement of Special Departments at the Supreme Court and the FBiH Prosecutor’s Office.
“The memorandum with the HJPC, together with the significant financial resources that the Government has earmarked for the implementation of that law, represents an important step towards solving this problem.
As a team, we were involved in this entire process and contributed to bringing it to the point where we have a model for solving this issue. After the adopted budget for 2023, the implementation phase of this capital project will follow. The team will also be involved in all future activities,” announced Mujanović, who has been at the head of the FBiH Government’s Anti-Corruption Team since July last year.
