The State Commission for Deciding on Conflict of Interest fined Nikola Čiča, Director of the Anti-Doping Control Agency of BiH, 5,000 BAM at its last session for simultaneously holding this position and serving as president of a non-governmental organization funded from the budget. The complaint against him was filed by Transparency International in BiH because he headed the HKD Napredak association, which in 2023 alone received 340,000.00 BAM in funding from the Federation of BiH budget while he held public office.
The Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest at the state level clearly prohibits officials from leading non-governmental organizations funded by any level of government in amounts exceeding 20,000 BAM or 70,000 BAM for associations in the fields of culture and sports. His conflict of interest was established at the end of last year when he was called upon to resign, and since he did not do so, the Commission imposed a fine of 5,000 BAM.
However, the question remains whether this sanction will have any effect if Nikola Čiča continues to control the state agency with a budget of approximately 870,000 BAM and an association that receives hundreds of thousands of BAM from various levels of government. Conflict of interest in the funding of non-governmental organizations with public money is quite widespread, and a recent TI BiH study published on the Odgovorno.st platform showed that politics controls over 2,000 associations funded at the entity and state levels. This is why the legal prohibition that exists in the state law is important, and it should be noted that conflict of interest in this area was recently legalized in Republika Srpska after TI BiH reported former advisor to Milorad Dodik, Milan Tegeltija.
In addition to the case of Nikola Čiča, the State Commission for Deciding on Conflict of Interest considered several other important cases at its last session, some of which were initiated based on complaints from TI BiH.
No Majority to Impose Sanction Against Secretary General of the Council of Ministers of BiH
At the session, the proposal by the Commission’s Department to establish a conflict of interest in the case of Robert Vidović, whom TI BiH also reported for holding incompatible positions, was not accepted. Namely, Vidović simultaneously holds the public position of Secretary General of the Council of Ministers of BiH and the public position of member of the Management Board of the Agency for the Promotion of Foreign Investment in BiH.
The issue on which there was no consensus among Commission members is whether Robert Vidović was appointed to the position on the Agency’s Management Board ex officio, whether membership in this Management Board is considered a public function, and whether the Council of Ministers of BiH should have appointed someone who does not hold public office.
The Commission did not respond to Vidović’s request for an advisory opinion submitted more than a year ago regarding the holding of these two positions. At the next session, a decision will be made on suspending the proceedings and issuing an advisory opinion in response to Robert Vidović’s inquiry.
In the case of Faruk Kapidžić, whom TI BiH reported for holding the position of member of the Commission for the Preservation of National Monuments of BiH while simultaneously serving as a representative in the Sarajevo Canton Assembly, it was established that he submitted a request for dismissal from membership in the Commission, but it was never accepted. The proceedings continue as the Commission seeks additional verification and information on whether he received compensation after submitting the request for dismissal. The same decision was made in the case of another member of this commission, Zoran Mikulić, whom TI BiH reported for simultaneously holding membership in the Commission for the Preservation of National Monuments of BiH and the position of representative in the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton Assembly.
