After many years of announcements, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina finally received the institution dedicated to the processing of corruption and organized crime – the special department of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office and the Supreme Court of FBiH, and officially started working today.
Symbolically, at the beginning of the snack and ceremony, and from now on, it should be – committed to work and great challenges.
In front of this section there is more than 450 cases, taken from all ten cantonal prosecutor’s offices. These are cases that the cantonal courts could not process due to incompetence, as well as investigations that are close to the indictment.
Hrvoje Čabrajić, Deputy Chief Federal Prosecutor, emphasized that the priority will have objects with high property benefits and involvement of high-sided actors.
The first indictment will be filed as soon as the evidence mature. There will be no delays.
First results in the next six months
The first few indictments are expected to be raised in the next half of the year. The priorities are detention cases, corrupt complex cases, seized assets, and cases that the cantonal courts rejected due to competencies.
Chief Federal Prosecutor Munib Halilović:
The court should return these indictment to the special department on the arrangement. So the department will decide if the indictments are ready for the trial or possibly returning to the investigation. In that part I see the potential of the first indictment.
So far, Cantonal Courts have tried in first instance proceedings, and the practice showed numerous weaknesses.
Vesna Ćosović, the President of the Supreme Court of FBiH, added precisely because of these lawsuit of the judiciary whether in public.
From practice, I can tell you the proceedings lasted for a very long time, there was often the abolition of first instance decisions and which was negatively led to the negative public perception in the work of the courts.
Institution that has been waiting for more than a decade
The ceremonial intersection of the ribbon was marked by the President of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH (HJPC) Sanjin Bogunić and Prime Minister of the Federation Nermin Nikšić. The law enabling the establishment of this department was passed 11 years ago.
Nermin Nikšić (SDP), Prime Minister of the Federation of BiH:
You should not be expected or put in front of these people too big burden, what we need to expect is that we will all be equal before the law.
Sanjin Bogunić, president of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH:
The departments have a clear mandate to take over and prosecute the most complex subjects of high corruption, organized crime, financial crime and other serious crimes that often exceed cantonal frameworks and require expert and independent access.
Still without full capacity
Although the special department is planned to have ten prosecutors, the work begins with only six.
Two were still in the phase of appeal procedures, while the other two is yet to be announced.
Despite this, the beginning of the work of this department carries a significant message: items that have collected dust for years by Ćoškovi now can finally get their epilogue.
Whether it will be so, it remains to be seen, it says Hayat TV.
