TI Survey: Corruption Plagues International Organizations

AIM Banja Luka, September 2, 2001

"A tempest in a teapot," this best describes conditions in Bosnia and Herzegovina after publication of a report done by Transparency International (TI) on corruption among international community representatives. Boris Divjak, a young macroeconomic expert and chairman of the TI chapter in Bosnia, of course, would not agree with this at all. He believes that the survey was a big step forward, because until now no one has publicly criticized international representatives in Bosnia for irresponsibility and lack of transparency in their work.

Still, when the long overdue report, symbolically entitled "The International Community Is Not Immune to the Plague of Corruption," was finally publicized at a news conference in Sarajevo on Aug. 24, journalists were rather disappointed. The report did not mention a single name, a single figure or a percentage that could be used in a headline. Speculation that Divjak and company would finger Wolfgang Petritsch, Jacques Klein and the former U.S. ambassador, Thomas Miller, turned out to be entirely groundless.

As opposed to the journalists, who felt cheated, international representatives and many domestic politicians, especially those considered "cooperative," were obviously relieved. Neither relevant politicians nor international diplomats responded to the TI report, if a brief and benign televised discussion between Boris Divjak and OHR spokeswoman Aleksandra Stigelmeier is not included.

The TI survey of corruption inside international organizations, in fact, was a much more interesting media issue before than after it was published. Guesses as to what it could contain were made throughout August, and its publication was announced and delayed several times. According to well-informed sources, letters in which the two most powerful foreign mediators, Wolfgang Petritsch and Jacques Klein, warned TI and Boris Divjak to be careful in their investigation and not publish any unconfirmed and well-checked data arrived in Banja Luka. Their fears, however, turned out to be completely unfounded: TI was more than careful. "I would not agree with such an assessment. What we have published is too much for the OHR. They are simply not used to be under any kind of scrutiny. Reporters may be disappointed, but they should know we are not investigators, but a non-government organization. We do not deal with individual cases; it's not our job," explains Boris Divjak.

The chief purpose of the TI report on corruption was to prove there aren't any mechanisms forcing the international community to show transparency and responsibility in its work, and that there is no independent monitoring of its operations. "Most decision having far-reaching consequences for Bosnia were made far outside its borders," the reports said and explained: "the justification that this was necessary because the nationalistic parties which had caused the conflict in Bosnia continued to have a main say long after the war and still do, is valid, but has created this practice which is still present, although democrats are in power now." This sentence prompted many to again question a widespread belief present before the report was published: does the TI report have a political agenda? The usual Balkan question of "who is he (in this case, Boris Divjak) working for" was answered: it's obvious, if he claims that democrats are in power. "I don't claim this. I used to live in Great Britain, I know what democracy is, and what we live in today is far from democracy. I am not the one who claims that democrats 'have come to power,' nor does TI. This is what the international representatives are saying," explains Divjak.

Before the report was published and when it was expected to have a major impact, a rumor began circulating in Republika Srpska that the Serb Democratic Party was behind everything, because Boris Divjak "used to be an advisor to former RS president Radovan Karadzic." The rumor is complete nonsense, if for no other reason then because of the fact that Divjak is 28, and was mostly in his teens when Karadzic ruled RS. Still, the local public, despite reports the rumor was started by Petritsch himself, took it seriously. "The OHR made the report a personal matter, probably out of fear of its results. Of course I was never Karadzic's advisor and of course TI has nothing to do with the Serb Democratic Party. We have two Bosniaks and two other people not affiliated with any party on our board, though they will soon be replaced because of inactivity. We plan to engage two more experts, both from Banja Luka, because we want to move the organization's seat from Sarajevo to Banja Luka," says Divjak adding that TI is a branch of an international organization, Berlin-based Transparency International, and that it would immediately lose its license if its ties with any party were established.

Divjak wonders why, if he had to be linked to a political party, he wasn't said to be close to the Party of Democratic Progress, instead of the Serb Democrats, whose future, according to him, is quite uncertain. "My best friend among politicians is Mladen Ivanic. I met him in 1996. I even wanted him to be my mentor in my doctoral studies, but he is too busy at the moment," says Divjak.

Another similarly unconfirmed story appeared saying that the international high representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, personally demanded that Ivanic cancel TI's research, promising that in exchange he would remove Milorad Dodik from the political scene. Dodik is the sole politician mentioned by name in the report as "a clear favorite of the international community," during last year's election campaign. In order not to do any damage to him on the eve of elections, international representatives, the report said, failed to reveal that the RS 2000 budget, through various customs and tax scams, lost DM100 million. "That's nothing new: as of recently, the news media are probing Dodik the most," said the TI chairman.

One of the rare international organizations mentioned in the report is the European Commission. The report specified that the EC's Web site had not, even a year after two tenders worth EUR3.7 million and EUR10 million were called, posted the names of the contractors. The European Commission responded by saying that the process was no secret. "The Brussels dinosaurs have to be more responsible and transparent," says Divjak. "If they are not capable of keeping their Web site up to date, they should better close it. If USAID can inform the public of every pfenig spent on the construction of the water supply system in Srbac, the EC can also be transparent when millions of euros are in question. I know that the EC responded strongly but the problem is that they were mentioned publicly for the first time in such a context, and their reaction was rash. Still, I believe there is no reason for nervousness and tension.

The tension between international organizations, even the OHR, and Transparency International for Bosnia and Herzegovina, has obviously subsided. After the report, which gave nobody a headache, everyone is ready to make up. The TI report greatly resembles the fairy tale about the emperor's new clothes. Boris Divjak clearly said that the emperor had no clothes on, but others knew it all along.

That some ascribed a hidden political agenda to the report also came as no surprise. Shortly before a politically-charged autumn, expected to bring a denouement to the disputes in the Serb Democratic Party, as well as in the RS government and the Alliance for Change. Social unrest cannot be ruled out either, or estrangement between Milorad Dodik and U.S. policy, embodied in a new, Republican ambassador. Ahead of such an autumn, therefore, everything has a political background: real, desired, or imaginary.

Milkica Milojevic

(AIM)