prijava
SARAJEVO, December 17 (FENA) - Currently in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 61 officials at the state, entity and cantonal levels are performing additional functions in institutions, public institutions and public enterprises, and a number of these officials have spent all or part of their mandates in direct conflict of interest, shows the data from the Register of Public Office Holders in BiH, which was presented today at a press conference in Sarajevo by Transparency International in BiH (TIBiH), and which currently includes data on 763 office-holders.
As TIBiH Executive Director Ivana Korajlić pointed out in this context, this organization has been dealing with conflicts of interest in BiH and improving mechanisms for preventing conflicts of interest, including engagement in improving the legal framework in this regard, which is one of BiH's 14 priorities on its European path.
She underlined, at the same time, that the Register is open for amendments and subject to changes, and that, in addition to data on political parties they come from, it will soon include information on the connections of public officials with the private sector, as well as data on public office holders at the local level.
She warned that the laws that should adequately regulate this area are have been in the procedure for many years, exposed to numerous obstructions at the level of their adoption and that the resistance is huge, i.e., that those who should adopt these laws, in fact, do not want any kind of control.
"What is especially problematic is the phenomenon that a part of incompatible and multiple official positions is not regulated by law at all," said Korajlić, stating that laws on conflict of interest very closely cover holders of public functions and that there are often cases of completely arbitrary interpretation and the avoidance application of the law altogether.
She added that it is necessary to establish an independent commission/professional body in charge of law enforcement in the field of conflict of interest, recalling that, despite the numerous reports submitted by TIBiH, there is no sanctioning of cases of conflict of interest.
Senior researcher at TI BiH Damjan Ožegović explained that the mentioned register was published on the website of that organization, that it is open to all citizens, and that its search is possible by various criteria, including administrative level, organization, political party, etc.
According to him, the analysis of data from the Register shows that most officials who perform two or more official duties come from the RS and that the situation is similar at the cantonal level, while in the FBiH and at the state level the presence of this phenomenon is much less prevalent.
As it was said, out of all officials who perform double functions, 14 of them are at the same time deputies and members of the government at different levels of government, and that should be prohibited by the amendments to the Election Law of BiH that have passed the House of Representatives of BiH.
According to the data from the Register, five members of the Parliament of the Federation of BiH are at the same time in the management of public companies and institutions, as well as one MP and one minister at the level of BiH.
In the current convocation of the National Assembly of the RS, out of 83 deputies, 22 of them are currently part of the management of public institutions and public companies, and out of that number, 13 deputies are in the management structures of public companies, although the law forbids it, but those in power found a way to circumvent it with impunity, underlined TI BiH.
The mandates of the acting directors of public companies are indefinitely extended in the cases of these MPs, because the competent Commission for Determining Conflict of Interest persistently interprets the law in such a way that the acting director is not the same as the director in terms of this law, although it is not mentioned anywhere. TI BiH also points out that the existing laws allow MPs at all levels to be in charge of public institutions, although in many cases assemblies adopt budgets and reports submitted by those same institutions.
Through the monitoring of the election campaign, TI BiH also recorded numerous examples of misuse of resources of public companies and institutions for the election campaign of officials in governing bodies, but there is no legal possibility to sanction this.
According to the same data, in addition to the state and entity levels, another 22 officials at the cantonal level perform additional functions, of which six cases refer to ministers in the technical mandate, while other officials are also members of management structures in public institutions and companies.
At this moment, a total of 25 elected officials are currently directors of public institutions and public enterprises, while 20 of them sit in management and supervisory boards.
TI BiH reminds that the latest GRECO report on the implementation of recommendations in the field of prevention of corruption among members of parliament, clearly emphasizes that BiH has not done anything since the last report and that it has not made progress in improving regulations in the field of conflict of interest.
The register of public office holders was created as a result of the project "Support to Citizens in the Fight against Corruption". Its implementation is financially supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the project is being implemented together with the partner organization Centers for Civic Initiatives (CCI).
(FENA) S. R.
