By: Investigative team of InfoRadar
Criminal complaints have been filed to the Prosecutor’s Office of Canton Sarajevo against the director of the Center for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Arben Murtezić for abuse of power, but also for favoring the selection of Marks Center, school of foreign languages (in professional development program, author’s remark), as to obtain benefit for his friend, owner of the school, claim employees of the JPTC FBiH. We have asked the aforementioned school of foreign languages for a comment, but have received none by the time the text was released.
The employees further claim that Murtezić has also favored a hotel in Konjic as to provide it with illicit financial gain.
– Seminars in the second stage of Jufrex project should have been held in a hotel in Sarajevo or generally in Sarajevo. Instead of that he organized only two seminars in Terme, Ilidža, and others were held in Hotel Garden City contrary to the agreement with the Council of Europe EU-JP/2235, and he also ordered the employees in the public procurement commission to exclusively target this hotel. This matter is also being investigated, claim Center’s employees.
Employees also claim that criminal complaints were filed against Murtezić earlier for paying disciplinary commission’s members contrary to the rules.
– He paid them only after he got the result he wanted, and he has done it contrary to the rules. Criminal charges were filed to the Prosecutor’s Office against Murtezić for amending the Rulebook on systematization of positions/internal organization of the Center. He made a proposal to amend the Rulebook in March of 2023 according to which director can promote anyone in the department for programmes and education by passing a decision, although the Law on Civil Service prescribes that a promotion can be only made through an internal vacancy, claim center’s employees, who have contacted InfoRadar, referring to text recently published on our portal that read that the budget for prosecutorial and judicial training in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been increased for 7.5% compared to the last year.
However, according to the 2022 European Commission’s Report for Bosnia and Herzegovina, professional development didn’t yield significant improvement in relation to their skills, case management, preparation for the hearings, conduct of proceedings, and ethics. A total of 693.710 Euro was spent on it all.
Photo: FBiH JPTC FBiH
– The real truth being that the JPTC has been frequently receiving donations from the international organizations, AIRE Center being the most prominent one, since he took the office in June 2016. The FBiH Government even reduced his budget and now when the Center was left with very little funds he is asking the Ministry of Finance and the FBiH Government for a budget increase, shared the employees with InfoRadar, wishing to remain anonymous. They claim that the international organizations’ money “is being wasted, and most frequently only on Murtezić’s personal promotion.”
Murtezić admits that multiple criminal complaints were filed against him, which all share a common denominator of being “anonymous and meaningless”.
Photo: Murtezić
– The law enforcement agencies and other institutions that handle these reports are doing their job, are verifying information and I am most certainly cooperative. There is a criminal offense of false reporting for the damage that is brought about with this kind of action and the only real outcome of this unnecessary and sad story is a procedure to address this criminal offense. A rare combination of fabrications and absurd is reflected in several concrete examples that were presented to you, said Murtezić
– It is hardly possible to claim with any level of certainty that these are “employees” of the Center, so several of them. This is moreover so because employees’ opinion about my work can be seen in the attached document, which was signed by 11 out 12 Center’s employees, besides me, as befits serious people, and which was written as a response to such anonymous reports.
Letter of support to the director from 2021
The employees, who decided to file criminal complaint for abuse of power against the director, note that they have reported all irregularities in the Center’s operations to the BiH HJPC. They have made a report to the BiH HJPC in March of this year in which they primarily indicated the process of selection and appointment to the list of educators.
– There are strong indications that there have been irregularities and abuses on the part of the FBiH JPTC’s Commission. The preliminary list (number: 05-34-33-04/23 dated January 23, 2023) fully reflects the interests of Arben Murtezić and Smao Šabić, president of the JPTC’s Board of Directors. On the other hand, the experts who met the conditions were expelled/rejected, only because they were not to the liking of Šabić and Murtezić, reads the aforementioned report. It is further stated that Murtezić and Šabić “made sure to add themselves to the list of educators”.
– The commissions of the FBiH JPTC Board of Directors have taken a stance during earlier vacancies that neither director nor a JPTC employee can be on the list, but it hasn’t prevented Murzetić from making sure he is on the list, as to secure subsequent engagement after expiry of his tenure as the director. Šabić did the same (the person who is president of the commission for selection and appointment added himself to the list of educators). This judge of the Cantonal court in Sarajevo was regularly hired as an educator and paid accordingly, and he even managed to get an opinion from Murtezić in the autumn of 2021 (although FBiH JPTC is not competent to issue an opinion and it is solely under competence of the HJPC BiH) that participation of a judge/prosecutor in drafting of the Professional Development Plan is in line with the Guidelines on prevention of conflict of interests of judges/prosecutors, read the report sent to the BiH HJPC as claimed by the FBiH JPTC’s employees. The same report was forwarded to the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office in Sarajevo and we have asked them if any investigative actions were taken against the current director of the FBiH JPTC, for which criminal offense, and if he was questioned and in view of what circumstances. We did not receive any response.
The employees claim that the list of educators is “full of people close to Murtezić and Šabić”.
– The claim that I had made sure to add myself to the list of educators, although commissions of the FBiH JPTC Board of Directors have taken a stance during earlier vacancies that neither director nor a JPTC employee can be on the list, is ridiculous, to say the least, and wrong, said the president of the JPTC’s Board of Directors and judge Smajo Šabić to Inforadar.
He added that he was selected as educator under the statutory vacancy procedure.
– In order not to leave room for any doubt concerning my engagement as an educator, I have sent a written request to the Judicial and Prosecutorial Training Center asking if there are any legal obstacles for me, as the member of the Board of Directors, to be an education. On November 3, 2021 I received a written response from the Judicial and Prosecutorial Training Center that there are no legal obstacles for me as a member of the Board of Directors, in the capacity of an educator, to hold training sessions for judges in the BiH judiciary of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I would also like to note that other colleagues, members of the Board of Directors, who meet the conditions, are educators in the Judicial and Prosecutorial Training Centers and there are no obstacles in that regard, so above presented claims are, to say the least, inappropriate and incorrect, said Šabić.
He added that remunerations for the educators are “minor compared to the time they spend preparing certain topics and presenting them.”
He claims that he did not accept the role of educator for financial reasons, but solely for his beliefs “that it is useful for society and the community as a whole to pass on his professional knowledge and rich legal experience that he has to his younger colleagues.” He believes that he is one of the few judges in the judiciary of BiH who is also a lecturer, assistant professor, at the Faculty of Law in Zenica.
– If such profile of an expert is not needed in our society we have to ask ourselves what are the values on which this society rests, concluded Šabić, adding that “all members of the Board of Directors are performing this function free of charge without any remuneration, and without being in any way partially released from their duties as judges and prosecutors.”
He also believes that this is an attempt to damage reputation, honor and dignity of FBIH JPTC’s Boad of Directors.
Inforadar also sent an inquiry to the Federation Police Administration. We wanted to know if an investigation is being conducted against Mutezić and for what criminal offense, and at what stage is the investigation? The Federation Police Administration did not provide any response, but Inforadar learned from well-informed sources that all the documentation that was in the Federation Police Administration concerning the director of JPTC was forwarded to the Canton Sarajevo Prosecutor’s Office for arbitration.
The High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina has confirmed receiving an anonymous report in 2021, but about Arben Murtezić not being appointed director of the JPTC, due to which the Council had on several occasions in 2022, in line with its competence, considered responsibility of the members of the FBiH
JPTC’s Board of Directors
– Namely, the omission mentioned in the anonymous report related to the data that, since the consultations between FBIH JPTC and the Council in November 2020, when the Council gave a positive opinion for this candidate, Arben Murtezić hasn’t been appointed director of the FBiH JPTC for almost a year. The outcome of the deliberations is that the Council could not determine responsibility of the members of the FBiH JPTC’s Board of Directors, said the HJPC BiH.
