Thanks to millions in loans from banks connected to the RS government, the family of entity President Milorad Dodik has acquired property worth 9.6 million KM. In the two years before the grace period to repay the loan recently ended, their orchard firm has been losing money.
The new regulatory plan envisions offices and accommodation units where the Tobacco Factory is now in Banja Luka. Even though workers complained that the Factory’s buyer failed to honor privatization obligations, the RS only recently requested termination of the contract.
Though it was set up expressly to process the most serious cases of financial crimes which call for sentences of at least five years, the Special Prosecutor’s Office of the RS has failed to prove charges of that scope. Courts have acquitted officials or sentenced them to jail terms of only three months to two years.
After the Central Election Commission in BiH withdrew the politicians’ asset declarations from its web site—at the request of the Personal Data Protection Agency in Bosnia and Herzgovina–CIN decided to publish them.
The leading Bosnian political parties pay off bills neither to business partners nor to the state and no court verdict guarantees payment of debt.
Court appointed defenses represent lucrative business for a small number of attorneys. Their less well paid peers and some inmates say that judges in violation of regulations may even propose attorneys for certain jobs.
Violating the law pays off for BiH’s leading political parties even when they are caught at it. Fines are so small, violations usually get repeated.
Between 2004 and 2010, the governments in BiH have spent 134.7 million KM of taxpayer money to finance political parties. Some politicians say money could be better used, but they are not doing anything to make that happen.
Judicial authorities often belatedly issue orders to freeze the assets of convicts after they have managed to sell them off.
Zoran Ćopić gave an exclusive interview to OCCRP seven days before he was arrested.
While the number of reported corruption cases rises, there are fewer trials and investigations against politicians can take years. BiH courts have acquitted one third of the white-collar defendants who have come before them, and mainly only the lowest level offenders get convicted. One out of five convicts get a jail term, while 80 percent gets away with a fine or probation.
Nedim Ćosić was appointed as an expert assistant with the Municipal Court in Sarajevo even though, at the time he applied for the job, he hadn’t taken the bar exam — one of the position’s key requirements.
The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIN) in Sarajevo is unique in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the first organization of its kind to be established in Balkans. CIN is dedicated to investigative reporting, aimed toward providing fair and unbiased information, based on evidences and solid proof, to BiH citizens who need to make educated decisions.
Downloading of the content of the CIN is permitted with the mandatory reference to the source at www.cin.ba.
Svojim anonimnim prijavama doprinosite integritetu naše zajednice. Molimo vas da iskoristite ovu formu kako biste sigurno prijavili bilo kakvu sumnju u korupciju ili nezakonitu aktivnost koju primijetite. Vaša hrabrost ključna je za očuvanje naših vrijednosti i promicanje transparentnosti.
