State Prosecutor Gordana Tadic and state parliamentarian Asim Sarajlic, who has had significant influence within the SDA for years, joined the United States (U.S.) blacklist on Monday, where you could easily recognize several other high-ranking politicians from our country.
The tragicomedy of this case is clearly reflected in the fact that the world’s largest power, which is also synonymous with order and justice in the U.S., accused two influential people in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) of corrupt and criminal activities, ie trading in influence and undermining democratic processes in the Western Balkans.
However, it is proved that this is the tragedy of this genre withthe fact that their actions have largely passed under the radar of BiH justice, just like some previous cases such as the U.S.specific suspicions of corruption of Nikola Spiric, which in BiH has never experienced a plot, let alone the judicial epilogue, Klix.ba writes.
In early January, the U.S. also imposed sanctions on senior and former officials in BiH. They then pointed to destabilizing activities in BiH, as well as criminal activities of these people: BiH Presidency member from Republika Srpska (RS), Milorad Dodik, former High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC)President Milan Tegeltija and his wife, state parliamentarian and former PDA President Mirsad Kukic, and Alternative Television close to Dodik. Along with Spiric earlier, sanctions were imposed on Amir Zukic, then SDA Secretary–General.
The invisible work of the judiciary and past experience as evidence
After the new sanctions at the beginning of January, a KTA case (for various crimes) was formed in the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, which, according to Chief Prosecutor Milanko Kajganic, includes all persons from BiH on various sanctions lists. He told that the investigative actions are being carried out precisely because of the suspicions of the U.S. about the criminal activities of the mentioned persons. The goal, he claims, is to establish the existence of a crime.
“The case was formed in order to verify the allegations about all these persons, in terms of whether there are elements of criminal acts in the actions of those persons. We are interested in the existence of a criminal acts and evidence for these acts. That is our mandate and what the prosecution is doing,” Kajganicemphasized.
Speaking about what was achieved during the mentioned investigation into persons from the U.S. sanctions list, Kajganic said that the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH is in contact with relevant partner institutions, in order to verify the grounds for suspicion, but stressed that there is no open investigation in terms of the existence of criminal offense.
That the partnership of institutions failed somewhere can be seen in the example of Nikola Spiric, who in September 2018 found himself under U.S. sanctions for “involvement in public corruption” and “disrupting public processes related to the work of Intelligence – Security Agency (OSA). Four years later, a case on this has not been formed, and justice has not been served.
Who is checking the suspicions that Sarajlic was employing people in BH Telecom?
Indeed, two cases have been filed earlier against Asim Sarajlicin the cantonal prosecutor’s office, ie indictments have been filed for the “Asim” affair and in the “Bosna” case. He is charged with buying votes in the internal party elections, from where he drew most of his influence, and he is also suspected of illegal mediation in employment in the case of Elektroprivreda BiH. Years later, the cases are still on trial.
What is not even in the court process, nor the case in the competent cantonal prosecutor’s office is the warning from the U.S. that Asim Sarajlic participated in illegal employment in BH Telecom. That information surprised our judiciary just as much as the public. However, we hope that the shock of surprise will pass quickly and that they will ask the U.S. authorities and their institutions for information on the suspicions they expressed in the explanation of the sanctions so that they can investigate thatin BiH.
The U.S. Treasury Department, which imposed sanctions, made it clear that Sarajlic was involved in corruption in the Western Balkans. In a functioning judiciary, that would definitely be a red alarm to launch an investigation.
Undermining the democratic processes by state prosecutor Gordana Tadic
The Disciplinary Prosecutor’s Office also had reasons for alarm, given the controversy related to the former chief prosecutor. Due to the illegal assignment of cases to prosecutors based on personal and political interests, she was removed from her position, but there is hardly a fair end to it.
Namely, the information available to the U.S. Treasury Department regarding “responsibility and complicity in actions or policies that undermine democratic processes and institutions in the Western Balkans” sheds new light and gives new reasons to the Disciplinary Prosecutor’s Office to initiate proceedings against her.
Finally, she is still a prosecutor in the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, and in the explanation of the sanctions, she is accused of direct and indirect participation in undermining democratic processes. Such a classification deserved at least a new investigation, if not a clear justification and indication of the responsibility of the one who allowed it and why.
Tadic will hardly be included in the newly opened case for persons under sanctions, considering that it was initiated by the prosecutor’s office in which she works. Therefore, unfortunately, the question remains “Who will investigate the U.S. allegations about Tadic’s activities?”.
E.Dz.
