Bosnia's Finance Ministry said Thursday that millions of EU funds for the mitigation of the migrant crisis in BiH were not paid to the state's single account, denying the International Organisation for Migrations' (IOM) claims that this Ministry receives financial reports on the use of these funds.

“The allegations that financial reports from the IOM on the use of these funds are submitted to the BiH Ministry of Finance and Treasury are incorrect because illegal migration is the exclusive competence of the BiH Ministry of Security and all contacts end in that Ministry which prepares reports for BiH Council of Ministers’ sessions,” the Ministry said.

The Ministry recalled that all BiH institutions must operate in accordance with the Law on Financing of BiH Institutions and submit information for budget execution reports which, after being adopted by the Council of Ministers (as the BiH government is called officially), the Presidency and the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, are regularly published on the website of the Finance Ministry.

“All expenditures covered by the budget and other legal activities are transparent and available to the domestic and international public, and detailed descriptions of expenditures of public funds can be found on the Ministry's website and through the Budget for Citizens project,” they said.

The Ministry added that all the Budget funds are spent in line with the Law and that they cannot monitor cash flows of international institutions outside their jurisdiction.

The International Organization for Migration in BiH (IOM) published the information on the implementation of projects related to the Emergency Response to the Migrant and Refugee Situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, funded by the European Union in which they state that:

“the IOM submits monthly financial reports to the Assistant Minister for Migration (within BiH Ministry of Security) and the EU Delegation in BiH. This report includes details of how the funding was spent in the previous month by IOM and its implementing partners. The Assistant Minister submits these reports to the Ministry of Finance BiH for their input and, once received and finalised, then sends these reports to the Council of Ministers prior to their session. In addition, IOM also submits a detailed end-of-year financial report which is processed in the same manner.”