The High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) in Bosnia has made members of the judiciary publicly declare their assets from 2019 onward, but their bank account information will remain confidential, Bosnia’s Centre for Investigative Reporting (CIN) said on Monday.

As of January 1st next year, the HJPC is introducing an electronic system which will show the asset declarations submitted by judges and prosecutors. The process will be implemented according to a rulebook the HJPC has adopted that defines the way in which financial reports of prosecutors and judges are to be submitted, reviewed and processed, including rules on declaration of the property of family members.

“Records which should soon become publicly available concern income from regular and other paid activities; records about property holdings and vehicles; the time and manner of their acquisition and the purchase price; other property and funds over 5,000 KM, as well as gifts and donations worth more than 25 KM that had been received in the course of their work, as well as those given in private and valued at more than 500 KM.” CIN wrote.

Judiciary members will also have to submit data on their investments and shares, obligations and debt and any activities for which they did not report receiving money for “with the goal of conflict of interests prevention.” They will also have to include data about any of their relatives working within the judicial system, CIN wrote.

But the records will not be publicly available and the judges and prosecutors will only have their names and surnames listed.

Although the rulebook allows for family members to withhold information about their property, no circumstances or acceptable reasons for doing so are defined.

The HJPC will, according to the rulebook, conduct regular and surprise inspections of financial reports in order to determine whether spending reflects income. Any irregularities within a declaration will be reported to a disciplinary prosecutor.

CIN wrote that the HJPC refused to share asset declarations of judiciary members three years ago when CIN and N1 reporters requested them, even though the Ombudsman for Human Rights decided that this information should not be classified. The HJPC at the time said that the requested records contain personal information on family members and that handing over the information would breach the privacy of third parties.

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