Two years after the report filed by Transparency International in BiH against Sevlid Hurtić, the Commission for Deciding on Conflicts of Interest in BiH Institutions determined that the Minister for Human Rights and Refugees of BiH was in a conflict of interest. At the session held on Monday, November 3, Hurtić was fined by reducing part of his salary in the coming months because his private company received million-dollar contracts from the state. TI BiH filed the report against Hurtić in October 2023 and the old Commission formally initiated the procedure in February 2024.
In the meantime, the state law was amended, a new Commission for Deciding on Conflicts of Interest was formed, but until the last session, it did not resolve any cases from the previous period, citing that the necessary bylaws had not been adopted.
During this time, Hurtić’s company continued to win tenders, and only at the last session was the state minister sanctioned under the provisions of the old law. Namely, Hurtić is the founder and owner of the publishing house “NAM” d.o.o. from Tuzla, which during 2023 entered into contracts and did business with institutions funded from the budget. According to TI BiH data, his publishing house then won two tenders with a total value exceeding 1.4 million KM.
In the meantime, these contracts began to be executed through another company, so TI BiH submitted another report against Hurtić to the Commission on Monday. According to media reports, instead of Hurtić’s publishing house
TI BiH believes that this is an attempt to circumvent legal restrictions and that the conflict of interest does not cease if the procurement is executed through another company, and ultimately the textbooks are purchased from a publishing house owned by a state minister. The primary goal of the law on conflict of interest is precisely to prevent public officials from using their positions and political influence for personal gain, and any formal circumvention in this case does not essentially solve the problem.
Additionally, it should be emphasized that by not resolving this and other reports, public officials are allowed to repeat such and similar actions, and many have spent their entire mandate in a conflict of interest. TI BiH warned the public a few days ago that a year has passed since the commission began its work, no decision has been made, and there is an attempt to exclude the public from monitoring the sessions. The last session was held without notice and public presence, and as some media reported, at the same session, the Commission determined the existence of a conflict of interest in the case of Dragan Bogdanić, a former SNSD representative in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. However, since Bogdanić no longer holds a public office, no financial sanction could be imposed against him. The status of other reports submitted by TI BiH to this commission, including reports against Milorad Dodik, Nermin Nikšić, or the director of BH Telecom Amel Kovačević, is still unknown.
In the European Commission’s progress report on BiH published yesterday, it is stated that “the state Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest, adopted in March 2024, remains practically unenforced. The Commission established by the law has not imposed any sanctions nor has it submitted the necessary bylaws to the Council of Ministers for adoption.” It is further stated that the law at the state level is still not fully aligned with European standards, especially in the part concerning the incompatibility of functions, sanctions, and the selection and composition of the Commission for Conflict of Interest.
