The Federal Police Administration has submitted a report to the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office of Canton 10 against the Mayor of Drvar Municipality, Dušica Runić, on suspicion of abuse of position or authority in the distribution of donations to farmers during the 2020 election campaign.
Transparency International in BiH (TI BiH) reported this case to the cantonal Administration for Inspection Affairs due to suspected misconduct in the distribution of money to farmers from this municipality intended to mitigate damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
During the monitoring of electoral violations during the 2020 Local Elections campaign, TI BiH observers documented that Dušica Runić, as the Municipality Mayor, along with activists from her party SNSD, distributed cash to farmers who had applied for assistance.
TI BiH provided evidence supporting these claims to the Canton 10 Administration for Inspection Affairs, which was then forwarded to the Federal Police Administration.
In their response to TI BiH, FUP confirmed that they submitted a Report to the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office of Canton 10 regarding the criminal offense of “Abuse of Position or Authority” under Article 383 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of BiH.
The Municipality of Drvar issued a Special Decision on measures to mitigate the harmful consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, which specified that assistance should be provided to candidates who submit their bank account details.
However, many farmers, instead of receiving the approved livestock, received assistance in cash just days before the elections.
Assistance to farmers was paid from the budget of the Municipality of Drvar, amounting to 20,000.00 BAM, while an additional 200,000 convertible marks for these purposes was donated to Drvar by the Government of Serbia.
