prijava
SARAJEVO, April 25 (FENA) - The Anti-Corruption and Quality Control Office of the Sarajevo Canton has received 189 reports of corruption since the entry into force of the Law on Prevention and Suppression of Corruption in Sarajevo (from January 1 to April 10) and initiated 30 procedures to determine conflicts of interest for public office holders. At the same time, 34 holders of public offices in Sarajevo Canton resigned or otherwise stepped down from their positions before the Anti-Corruption Office conducted the procedure for determining the conflict of interest.
This was highlighted today at a press conference in Sarajevo, where the results of 100 days of implementation of the Law on Prevention and Suppression of Corruption in SC were presented. It was stated that the Law is one of the key laws that ensure the efficient functioning of the anti-corruption system and contributes to governance rights and strengthening legal security.
The Law prohibits performing double functions in the public sector, provides protection to those reporting corruption and establishes a system to strengthen the integrity of cantonal institutions.
Among others, the adoption and application of this anti-corruption law was welcomed by the Ambassador of the United States of America, Michael Murphy, warning again that endemic corruption and political control of institutions threaten the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the Euro-Atlantic community.
“The political 'capture' of institutions that goes 'hand in hand' with a high level of corruption enables corrupt leaders to act with impunity and feel untouchable,” the US Ambassador pointed out, underlining how such behavior of corrupt politicians deprives the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina of their future.
Murphy said that Sarajevo now has a good legislative framework, which enables it to be a leader in the fight against corruption and the protection of corruption informants (so-called whistleblowers) and congratulated the authorities of the SC on the occasion of the adoption of the mentioned law, as well as the Office for the fight against corruption and the achievements in the consistent application of legal solutions.
Murphy thinks that what has been achieved in SC in terms of the fight against corruption should serve as a model for other cantons and throughout BiH, and points out that the US Government is ready to work "side by side" with those who are ready to fight against corruption to ensure that the same rules apply equally to everyone.
The UK Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Julian Reilly, pointed to the importance of establishing an effective anti-corruption system, stressing the importance of the successful application of the legislative framework in this regard.
He reminded that the Government of Great Britain supports the Anti-Corruption Office and that the focus is on the training of the employees regarding the protection of corruption whistleblowers and the application of certain legal provisions within the cantonal institutions so that they can draw up their integrity plans.
Referring to the application of the Law on Prevention and Suppression of Corruption in SC, the Head of the Anti-Corruption and Quality Control Office of SC, Erduan Kafedžić, assessed that it is one of the most important laws, which makes this canton a leader in the fight against corruption in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“The ban on performing double functions has contributed to the fact that we no longer have an established practice of one person performing multiple public functions. The abolition of double functions reduced the concentration of power in the hands of individual holders of public functions,” Kafedžić said.
In the first 100 days of the application of the Law on the Prevention and Suppression of Corruption in SC, 217 institutions in this canton adopted regulations on internal reporting of corruption.
(FENA) A. B.
