This year, the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) filed one more indictment for high-level corruption compared to last year, but it halved the total number of indictments for corruption, data show.
With a total of four indictments for corruption in 2023 against 14 persons and four companies, state prosecutors brought fewer indictments than last year when they charged 19 people in eight indictments.
“We believe that the latest activities have shown that we are committed and capable of effectively fighting high-level corruption, and we will continue to do so,” the BiH Prosecutor’s Office believes.
The European Union (EU) has previously criticized BiH’s results in combating corruption, stating that they are still negligible due to inefficiency and political interference.
The Prosecution filed the most extensive indictment against 15 natural and legal persons accused of organized crime, abuse of position or authority, the conclusion of a harmful contract and money laundering, and other acts committed between 2005 and 2016 in the company “Bosnalijek” in August of this year.
According to the indictment, Nedim Uzunovic as an organizer, with several other persons – acting as an organized group, due to the realization of illegal property benefits, and contrary to the interests of the company “Bosnalijek” – carried out financial transactions through several offshore companies registered in the British Virgin Islands and Seychelles, for the benefit of company accounts in Latvia, Cyprus and other countries, and for alleged marketing or consulting services that were not performed.
In addition to this, at the beginning of the year, an indictment was brought against Dragan Sojic, the former director of the Service for Joint Affairs of the Institutions of BiH. He was accused of abuse of position or authority, in such a way that in the period from 2018 to 2022, he obtained an illegal material benefit for himself, and caused damage to the budget funds and resources of the institution he headed.
According to the Report of the European Commission for BiH for the year 2023, the overall results in preventing and suppressing corruption, including corrupt actions at a high level, are still minor due to operational inefficiency and political interference.
“BiH is between an early stage and a certain level of preparedness in the prevention and fight against corruption and organized crime. No progress has been made in the fight against corruption,” the report states.
The same report adds that the poor functioning of the justice system continues to jeopardize the fight against corruption and organized crime, and prevents citizens from exercising their rights.
