The Special Department for the Suppression of Corruption, Organized and Intercantonal Crime of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (POSKOK) recently announced that they will request an increase in the property tax from 100,000 to 500,000 marks, with the explanation that the department is overburdened.
Such a change could lead to the return of certain cases to the cantonal prosecutor’s offices, including cases that came under the jurisdiction of the Special Department precisely because of the current threshold of 100,000 marks.
In the Special Department of the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, legal proceedings against the former acting director of the Tuzla University-Clinical Center Denijal Tulumović and others for abuse of position or authority in the procurement of medical equipment are ongoing. The investigation in the case was conducted by the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office of the Tuzla Canton, and the Tuzla Cantonal Court forwarded this case to the Special Department, considering the amount of property benefit obtained by committing a criminal offense exceeds the amount of 100,000 KM.
The Chief Federal Prosecutor Munib Halilović recently stated at a press conference that the Special Department took too many cases in the investigation from the cantonal prosecutor’s offices and they are bound by the legal deadlines, which are short, and in that situation the prosecutors are under too much pressure, which is why they are proposing changes.
“This is no alibi for the results of the Special Department,” Halilović explained at the time.
The Prosecutor’s Office clarified for Detektor that the goal of the changes is not to reduce criminal protection, but to more precisely define jurisdiction and more efficiently direct the capacities of POSKOK to the most complex cases of organized crime and corruption.
While the Federal Prosecutor’s Office claims that increasing the asset threshold will not mean impunity for corruption, judicial experts and organizations warn that returning cases to cantonal prosecutors’ offices could further slow down investigations and deepen citizens’ mistrust of the judiciary.
Damjan Ožegović from Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina said that returning the case to the cantonal prosecutor’s office would waste time.
“Citizens are crying out for justice,” says Ožegović.
Load in everyday work
The detector has collected data that more than 800 cases have been assigned to the Special Department since its establishment from cantonal prosecutor’s offices in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The largest number, more than 500 cases, was forwarded by the Sarajevo Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office, from which they warn that any change of jurisdiction without detailed analysis can slow down proceedings and disrupt the continuity of investigations.
Meliha Dugalija, the chief cantonal prosecutor of the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office in Sarajevo explained to Detektor that any increase in the number of cases in this Prosecutor’s Office would represent a burden in the daily work of the prosecutors.
“We believe that any possible change in legal solutions related to the jurisdiction of prosecutor’s offices must be preceded by a detailed and expert analysis of the structure of criminal cases that would eventually return to the jurisdiction of cantonal prosecutor’s offices, as well as an analysis of the actual capacity to handle those cases,” explained Dugalija.
As he says, the question of the efficiency of work on cases is particularly important because their transfer affects the dynamics of proceedings, the continuity of work, but also the quality of the efficiency of handling evidence.
“Any change in jurisdiction should be aimed at improving the efficiency of criminal proceedings, and not at creating additional procedural and organizational burdens that can affect the duration and quality of proceedings in cases,” Dugalija said.
According to her, only after several years of work of the Special Department of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office will it be possible to realistically evaluate its results and the overall effects of anti-corruption legislation. On the basis of such an evaluation, as she said, the issue of competence of the Special Department itself could be reconsidered.
After Sarajevo, the cantonal prosecutor’s offices of the Central Bosnia and Zenica-Doboj cantons handed over 79 cases to the Special Department.
The smallest number of cases, a total of four, was transferred by the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office of the Bosnian-Podrinje Canton.
Deputy Chief Federal Prosecutor and head of POSKOK Hrvoje Čabrajić said that the cases that have already been received and are being processed have been analyzed in accordance with the transitional and final provisions of possible changes to the law. He states that the Federal Prosecutor’s Office will continue to act on all reported criminal offenses for which there is a reason for suspicion.
“Legal qualification and assessment of jurisdiction are performed on the basis of facts and evidence collected during the procedure, and not exclusively according to the amount of property benefit or damage,” explains Čabrajić.
He states that the Special Department handles a large number of complex financial investigations and organized crime cases, and continuously works to strengthen institutional and professional capacities in cooperation with the police and other competent authorities.
“The amount of material damage or acquired property benefit is one of the relevant elements when determining jurisdiction and priorities in the work, but not the only criterion. Of particular importance are the nature of the criminal offense, the method of execution, the consequences for institutions and the public interest, as well as the degree of organization of the perpetrator,” explained the deputy chief federal prosecutor.
While the indictment for abuse of position and other criminal acts in “Vitezit” was recently confirmed, along with which the Federal Prosecutor’s Office proposed confiscation of multimillion-dollar property benefits, last week the indictment accusing Kenan Spahić of abuse of position or authority was also confirmed because, as the treasurer of Bosna Bank International in Zenica, he obtained an illegal property benefit of 219,017.65 KM, for which the bank was damaged.
Negative effect for items
The High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council stated in their response to Detektor that they have no official knowledge of the legal changes.
Lawyer and former prosecutor Adnan Tučić, with many years of experience in organized crime processes, explained that the cases that would be returned to the cantonal prosecutor’s offices are mostly in the stage of reports or preliminary investigations, before the order to conduct the investigation is issued.
“The passage of time in which actions are not taken in those cases certainly represents a negative effect on the cases themselves,” said Tučić.
He explains that it is objective that the prosecutors from POSKOK cannot answer the problem of comparative efficient work, because each of them is handling more than a hundred cases, a significant number of which are very extensive and complex.
In particular, as he says, the role and responsibility of the chief federal prosecutor, who has the obligation to control the efficiency and legality of the work of all cantonal prosecutor’s offices, comes to the fore.
“One gets the impression that individual prosecutor’s offices ‘dealt with’ certain more serious cases of organized crime and corruption by handing them over to POSKOK, and now those cases are being returned. I think that the actions of each prosecutor’s office should be viewed as a whole over specific periods of time, and only then draw conclusions or ask questions as to whether certain cases will continue to “hibernate” or be the subject of efficient and continuous work,” he explained.
Čabrajić states that the received cases are analyzed while respecting the principles of legal certainty and continuity of proceedings.
“Each issue of possible statute of limitations is assessed individually, depending on the specific circumstances of the case, the stage of the procedure and the legal deadlines prescribed by the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” said Čabrajić.
Ožegović states that one of the problems of the judiciary is that the funds for work depend on the executive power, and that there are no indications of its solution.
“As a society, we waste a lot of time on those cases that go from prosecutor’s office to prosecutor’s office. Punishing those bigger affairs, that is, bigger cases, would provide that strong message of punishment,” Ožegović said.
He points out that if the statute of limitations would occur, the responsibility of the prosecutors, as well as the managers, could be determined.
