US sanctions against Bosnian officials mean nothing in BiH because the sanctioned people in the country have neither been charged nor convicted by the local judiciary, Director of Transparency International in BiH Ivana Korajlic told N1.
She stated that it is evident that the list of people blacklisted for involvement in corruption is expanding.
“What’s surely in everyone’s focus is why Fadil Novalic [the Prime Minister of Bosnia’s Federation entity] was placed on the blacklist, and that is his involvement in corruption because he sent letters to pensioners a few years ago asking for support before the elections. I must say that even though Transparency International was dealing with that case back then and we were trying to determine and come to the conclusion that the institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina are somehow processing this as an abuse of position for public purposes and before the elections, we didn’t come to that. I want to say that this is one of the smallest things that can be blamed on Novalic but I assume that due to the ongoing case (trial in the ‘Respiratori’ case op.a.) it could not be mentioned in the way in which the decision was formulated. And Slobodan Stanković is the owner of a company that has been in business for decades and is close to the authorities in the [Republika Srpska entity] RS, but also in the region. They were awarded contracts and infrastructure projects, but we have seen in previous cases that the mere fact that someone is on this list does not necessarily bring any consequences for these persons, they were not accused or condemned by the judicial institutions in BiH. In this regard, there are no obstacles to holding public positions, and this applies not only to these mentioned persons but also to others. There is also State Prosecutor Diana Kajmakovic, then former Chief Prosecutor Gordana Tadic, as well as other persons holding high positions [that have been sanctioned by the US],” Korajlic stated.
She added that these sanctions have an impact on how someone will cooperate with the US authorities.
“Doing business and the like. We see that to the people in BiH who got rich from corruption these sanctions don’t mean much because they hide their assets and wealth in other countries, including money in offshore companies and other real estate,” she added.
Commenting on the purpose of the protest in Banja Luka, considering that the latest preliminary information shows that Milorad Dodik is in the lead for the RS president, while Jelena Trivic from the opposition claims she was the victim of election fraud, Korajlic believes that perhaps in this way, Trivic wants to point out the mistakes in the election process or tell the competent institutions to check allegations of theft.
“I must note that the Central Electoral Commission informed political entities of the moment from which they can submit objections, as we can see – they didn’t comply with those instructions but submitted their objections much earlier. Requesting the annulment of the election in a certain place should be done when the official results are announced. It is absurd that we clearly see shortcomings in the electoral process because electoral committees should know what they are doing and act in accordance with the law. However, in our country, it is the case that these polling committees are appointed by the parties, which is why they (the parties) are benefiting”, said Korajlic.
Kakvo je tvoje mišljenje o ovome?
Budi prvi koji će ostaviti komentar!