Transparency International in BiH (TI BiH) has submitted a report to the Commission for Deciding on Conflict of Interest against Igor Vuković from Vlasenica for simultaneously serving as advisor to the Deputy Minister of Civil Affairs of BiH, Marijana Mojić, and holding the public office of councilor in the Municipal Assembly of Vlasenica on behalf of the United Srpska party.
The Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Institutions at the BiH Level in Article 6 explicitly stipulates that a public office holder may hold only one public office, and the prohibition also applies to holding offices at other levels of government.
Given that the state law clearly defines advisors to appointed officials as “public office holders,” while the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Government Bodies of Republika Srpska also treats the position of councilor as a public office, Vuković’s parallel activities constitute a direct violation of the law.
Igor Vuković is known to the public as the former director of the Forest Management “Birač” from Vlasenica, from which he was dismissed in 2012 due to multimillion losses incurred by the management, and a year later, in June 2013, Vuković was arrested on suspicion of abuse of official position and embezzlement of state funds, while former employees of this forest management claimed at the time that he had opened a private company with money obtained through fraudulent activities.
Vuković currently operates as the owner of a private wood processing company “VIS” d.o.o. based in Vlasenica, but data from asset declarations for the 2020 and 2024 elections show that Vuković did not report this company to the competent institutions, and the sections for reporting company ownership remained blank.
In its report, TI BiH proposed that the Commission for Deciding on Conflict of Interest examine this case and impose appropriate measures in accordance with Article 31 of the Law; however, it remains questionable how effective the competent Commission will be in resolving this matter.
In a similar case, which was pursued following a TI BiH report against Marija Ćosić, advisor to the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly and councilor in the Municipal Council of Busovača, a decision was awaited for over a year. After returning the case for revision several times, the Commission imposed a fine of 5,000 KM with a call to resign; however, problems with interpreting the new law as well as attempts to obstruct the imposition of sanctions in this case remain as an example of the authorities’ approach to conflict of interest.
Instead of establishing practice and sanctioning officials who freely hold multiple offices, the Commission’s actions continue to favor officials like Vuković, who are enabled to retain incompatible positions through legal vacuums and institutional inertia.
