Crime in the Republic of Srpska

CRIMINALISATION THROUGH THE SYSTEM

AIM Banja Luka, September 11, 1999

Crime stories have long ceased to increase the circulation of the Republic of Srpska dailies. So many scandals which were written and discussed in the streets and on the Assembly rostrum have made the crime an ordinary social phenomena.

The promise Biljana Plavsic made when she took over the presidential post in 1997 that state's first task would be to eradicate organised crime today is nothing but a proof of the incapability of that same state to come to grips with this social evil. Until today no light has been shed on scandals involving "Centreks" and "Selekt-import" which President Plavsic herself disclosed by making accessible to the public documents about crimes implicating officials from state and political top leadership. Criminal reports have been submitted to the prosecutor and the court but no verdict has been pronounced yet.

Notorious war scandals concerning the disappearance of 3,000 cars type Volkswagen "Golf" from the Vogosce factory, sale of Herzegovinian aluminium and resale of 4 million litres of fuel from Montenegro have not had their epilogue in court. The disappearance of Branko Ostojic, former Vice-President of the RS Government with millions, has been practically forgotten. The court has instituted proceedings against the accused ordering his detention. Since the accused was "inaccessible" that was the end of it. In the meantime Ostojic visited Banjaluka with the then Defence Minister so as to prove to new political power holders that all his doings were for the sake of "state interests", but never appeared before the court.

Instead of answers to these questions new scandals came out in the open. Namely, the first one concerned purchase of the Bulgarian oil through a private enterprise from Banjaluka when some DEM 15 million vanished from the National Bank of the Republic of Srpska. Millions in foreign currency were transferred to Bulgaria in a bag and paid to an unknown seller who after that disappeared without trace. The then Prime Minister Dr.Vladimir Lukic was accused for the abuse of power and authority. After two years of court trials Lukic was acquitted. His defence counsel, attorney Goran Bubic, said that a decision for this move had been made collectively by a state authority and that therefore a possibility of "premeditation" can be ruled out. After that the news that some DEM 8 million have disappeared without a trace through the Defence Ministry hit the fan (rumours has it that it was used for the purchase of a secret weapon). The payment was made on the basis of a document implicating the highest state officials. After that the police units of the new Minister Milovan Stankovic exposed the former Prime Minister Gojko Klickovic and his disruption of the monetary system of FR Yugoslavia causing several million dollars of losses to the Republic of Srpska. Klickovic left for Belgrade without any problems and started his private business firm.

The announced showdown of Dodik's Government with crime involving his predecessors did not end with the arrest of suspects. They all managed to get away to Yugoslavia before the Public Prosecutor's Office got hold of filed criminal reports. After detention was ordered for Klickovic, he offered to pay DEM 150 thousand so that he could be released on bail. The court agreed with that. The arrest of Dragan Spasojevic, businessman from Zvornik also ended with paid bail instead of detention. Petko Cancar, Justice Minister at that time filed criminal charges against Radomir Aleksic, judge of the Bijeljina District Court for taking bribe and violation of the law because he had freed Spasojevic. This unusual case was used as an argument in corruption charges brought by the judiciary.

Dodik's ministers of police and justice (Stankovic and Petko Cancar) also lost in the war against crime. Both of them resigned without offering any explanation. Their seats were taken by Sredoje Novic and Milan Trbojevic who did not make great promises, but neither achieved results. Once again with the new "oil spill" crime became the main political subject. During the control of the business operations of the Oil Refinery from Srpski (Bosanski) Brod, the financial police discovered that no taxes were paid for the sale of KM 26 million worth oil derivatives. Again Biljana Plavsic made a statement accusing the Government for illegal oil flow. She informed the press that in addition to 84 state gas stations in the Republic of Srpska, there were 243 private ones which were mostly supplied with gas from Croatia by illegal channels. "The sale of oil from this Refinery provided as much as 70 percent of the RS budget", claimed Biljana Plavsic.

The people hold the Government most responsible for crime. They claim that the highest Government officials who have come from party ranks control the main import flows of excise tax goods. The Government blames journalists for creating affairs and promises to "intensify the work of supervisory bodies". A thesis that capital of dubious origin is circulating among politicians who easily become corrupt is also confirmed by Dragan Veselinovic, Director of the RS Financial Police: "All ministries are involved in crime up to their neck. It is the system that has made the society criminal."

Sredoje Novic, Minister of the Interior, disclaims any responsibility on the part of the police and states that the reason for the constantly rising filed criminal reports is the inefficiency of the prosecutor's office and the court. Justice Minister rejects the opinion of his colleague: "I claim with full responsibility that a large number of reports is unfounded. We have to learn that it is up to the court to say whether a charge is founded or not. A large number of charges doesn't mean that there is an equally large number of discovered crimes", says Trbojevic.

According to Trbojevic basic an district courts in the RS have received some 35 thousand cases, out of which29 thousand have been resolved. If we add to this figure 61 thousand of unresolved cases from previous years we get the figure of 67 thousand cases waiting to be settled.

The International Crisis Groups also treated the criminalisation of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian society. In its recently published report entitled "Authority above the Law" it warns that the power of bureaucracy is endangering the judiciary and proposes a number of measures for the transformation of the legal system with a view to improving its efficiency.

Numerous unresolved scandals which have been shaking the B&H Federation recently confirm the impression of the overall criminalisation of the society and corruptness of the authorities. Kresimir Zumak, former Member of the B&H Presidency and a judge before the war, says that "holders of high offices in state institutions are contaminated by the corruption virus" and thinks that there could be no efficient fight against crime without new political forces in state structures. Many will agree with this finding, but increasingly fewer are those who believe that there is a successful therapy for this disease that has advanced too far.

Branko Peric

(AIM)