Officials in Bosnia's top judicial institution should resign because of the alleged corruption affair involving the head of this institution, and the law dealing with it should be amended as soon as possible, limiting their power, the former President of Bosnia's State Court, Meddzida Kreso told N1, on Monday.
“The High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) has been contaminated with problems made by the HJPC itself and this affair with the President of the HJPC, Milan Tegeltija, is the culmination of these problems. The trust in the judiciary was definitely disrupted, and the justice system has been shattered to the ground,” Meddzida Kreso said for N1.
Bosnian investigative news portal Zurnal published a text on Tuesday, saying they have a video allegedly showing an officer called Marko Pandza, from the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) – Bosnia's special police, taking some €1,000 on behalf of Milan Tegeltija, the head of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council which appoints judges and prosecutors and disciplines them.
Immediately upon the publication of the text, Tegeltija published a public statement saying Zurnal's text is a “complete fabrication and a malicious lie that he was caught in any form of corruptive activity simply because he never took part in any such activity in his life, let alone in the said case.”
On Thursday, Zurnal published an eight-minute video where the said police officer and Milan Tegeltija are talking with Alesevic about his case, but the video never shows Tegeltija asking or taking the money.
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Tegeltija reacted to the video as well saying “it can clearly be heard that I am saying ‘I can't help you right now with anything’, and that I am telling Mr Alesevic to give me the documents, the case file number and the name of the Prosecutor, which is common practice in the HJCP for complaints by parties who object the length of processes,” Tegeltija told N1.
“Lately, the HJPC officials, apart from few exceptions, have been spreading fear among the judges and prosecutors against protesting the institution's work. The power they, thanks to the current law on the HJPC, gives them the ability to do whatever they want,” Kreso noted adding that before the law is amended, the President and all the HJPC members should resign after this affair.
“The HJPC officials have supported Tegeltija unconditionally after the affair broke out, and I find that unacceptable,” she stressed.
She pointed out that members of the HJPC have no one to answer for their work, saying that the new HJPC law should divide this institution into two councils, one for judges and the other for prosecutors as is the case in the US.
“What we currently have is power concentrated in the hands of few individuals headed by the President and Vice-Presidents who support the President in everything. That's why this group should be broken, and if they don't resign, they should be dismissed by the High Representative,” Kreso emphasised.
According to her, the international community's representative, known as the High Representative, has the power to dismiss them and set up an interim board.
In the meantime, the High Representative should elect new HJPC members, and Bosnian authorities should adopt a new HJPC law dividing the current HJPC into two institutions, she added.
