HOW DID THE B&H EMPLOYMENT BUREAU DISAPPEAR?

FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT BUREAU'S FIRST ILLEGAL EMPLOYMENT

AIM, Sarajevo, January 28, 2000

In connection with the illegal establishment and work of the Federal Employment Bureau, the Office of the Cantonal Prosecutor in Sarajevo received so far only one criminal report against its acting Director, Fikret Hadzic. However, if there was the rule of law in B&H, i.e. in its entities, the list of those involved in this case who should be called to answer before the court, would be much longer. The first to be charged for assisting the work of an illegal institution, such as the Federal Bureau of Employment, would be Edhem Bicakcic, B&H Prime Minister, Sulejman Garib, Minister for Social Policy, Refugees and Displaced Persons of the B&H Federation, Mehmed Alijagic, former Deputy Minister of Finance of the B&H Federation, Maruf Burnazovic, Director of the Office for Payment Transactions of B&H Federation, Ms. Munira Zahiragic, Director of the Federal Statistical Office, and many other officials of the B&H Federation.

Each of them, in their respective fields of competence, have directly participated in the formation of the Federal Bureau of Employment helping it as much as they could. However, in order to clarify the reasons for opening the investigation, it is necessary to explain the chronology of events which have led to the loss of DEM 30 million by the Employment Bureau of B&H, although an institution of the B&H Federation which was supposed to operate on legal basis.

Namely, as far as it is known, the Federal Employment Bureau was established by a decision of the "Government of the B&H Federation" of May 17, last year. However, not only this institution did not hold any sessions on that date but its members of Croatian nationality, including Deputy Prime Minister of B&H Federation, Dragan Covic, know nothing more than they have learned from the papers. They do not know the basic thing - who was the signatory of this decision. And since this is a federal institution which should operate under the jurisdiction of the Government of the B&H Federation, more precisely the Ministry for Social Policy, Refugees and Displaced Persons, they should have been informed of all details concerning the establishment of the Bureau.

Apart from the mentioned reason, another fact confirms the claims that an illegal institution is in question: there is no law in the B&Hfederation which would constitute legal basis for the establishment of such an institution, since the law on mediation in employment and provision of social security for the unemployed is still under procedure in the F B&HParliament. More specifically, the Chamber of Deputies and the Chamber of Nations of the B&H Parliament have adopted the law, but different versionsof this law. And according to the valid regulations, no law or any otherlegal act can enter into force unless it is adopted by both chambers in identical form. That practically means that this law doesn't exist.

And finally, the decision on the formation of the Federal Bureau, referred to by all those mentioned in this text, was never published in the Official Gazette of the B&H Federation, which is also one of the basic preconditions for its validity, i.e. precondition for its implementation.As the media wrote, the same day "someone" signed the decision on theestablishment of the Federal Employment Bureau, the Federal Prime Ministersigned the decree on the appointment of one Fikret Hadzic, until then anemployee in the Employment Bureau of B&H, as acting director of the FederalBureau. Also, according to AIM sources, Sulejman Garib, Minister, Fadil Haveric, Coordinator of the Working Group for the Establishment of the Bureau, and Hadzic himself regularly informed the Federal Prime Minister of how the establishment of the Bureau was progressing.

At the same time, other federal institutions joined the game. First, the Registration Court in Sarajevo registered the Federal Employment Bureau as legal person without previously making sure that the decision on its establishment was legal. After that, the Federal Statistical Office issued a code of activity to an institution which was still in the formation stage, and the Office for Payment Transactions of B&H Federation opened its account. Should it be mentioned that no one checked the legality of the mentioned decision on the establishment of this Bureau.

Finally, according to his own statement, the then Deputy Finance Minister of F B&H, Mehmed Alijagic, without informing his superior, Minister Dragan Covic, ordered the blocking of accounts of the Employment Bureau of B&H and Agency for Emergency Employment, which operates within this state institution, and the transfer of thus blocked funds to the account of the Federal Employment Bureau.

In this way, the Employment Bureau of B&H and its Agency for Emergency Employment, have been illegally robbed of some KM 30 million in the past eight months. However, not only did Alijagic act on the basis of illegally adopted decision, but he also violated his authority. According to valid regulations, no federal official is authorised to interfere in the work of state institutions, so that Alijagic wasn't allowed to touch the money of the state Bureau.

In the meantime, Alijagic was appointed to a new, higher position instead of being placed under investigation because of his role and part in the "Federal Bureau" case. More precisely, he was appointed Chief Auditor of the B&H Federation. True, the B&H Parliament has not yet confirmed this appointment, but the very idea of having him in that position speaks enough of the ruling party's attitude to this case. Namely, the task of the chief auditor of the budget is to control the inflow and withdrawal of funds which practically means that, if the Parliament verifies his appointment, Alijagic will control all financial transactions in the B&H Federation.

What was this game all about is best shown by the stand of the Office of High Representative, as well as other international institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which consider all the events relating to the Federal Employment Bureau not only illegal, but also unconstitutional.

Apart from the mentioned officials, other persons were also part of these illegal doings, such as chiefs of some cantonal and municipal services, who agreed to work for the Federal Employment Bureau. However, they are only, so to say, "small fry" who will disappear from the scene the moment the bigger ones fall.

However, what is surprising (but illustrative of the method of work) is the reaction of the relevant institutions of the Federation, even those at the state level, since the state institution is the one that had suffered the damages. Strange is the silence of the leading men of this institution, which until now (apart from criminal report submitted by the Director of the Agency for Emergency Employment) didn't do anything to prevent further plundering of the money from the institution they are in charge of.

Next, it is amazing that inspection authorities of the B&H Federation, primarily the F B&H Financial Police did not react to this. There is no mention of the investigation of the work of the Federal Bureau, although there were many reasons to open such an investigation since, in addition to articles, the newspapers have also supplied photocopies of controversial documents.

Also, the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office from Sarajevo did not even try to untie the "knot" called the Federal Bureau of Employment despite the fact that it has received sufficient information to launch a broader investigation of this case, in which the determination of the justifiability of the criminal report against Fikret Hadzic is just a tip of the iceberg.

Evel PRSES (AIM, Sarajevo)