Bosnia’s anti-corruption agency has on Wednesday received an anonymous complaint saying that the head of the body monitoring the work of Bosnia’s judiciary was trying to prevent the institution from properly handling corruption allegations against him.
The alleged corruption case emerged in May when local investigative news portal Zurnal published a video allegedly showing a businessman handing money to a police officer which the news portal claimed was meant for Milan Tegeltija, the President of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC).
Tegeltija denied the allegations. The HJPC unanimously expressed support for him.
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The Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption said the complaint states that Tegeltija abused his position and competencies in order to prevent the HJPC from acting in accordance with the law and its regulations so it does not probe the facts regarding the affair and eventually conclude that he committed wrongdoing.
It also said the State Prosecutor’s Office and the office of the disciplinary prosecution have initiated a case according to their competencies, while the HJPC did not do so.
According to Tegeltija, APIK cannot decide on any complaints against him, as this is the job of the court and the prosecutor’s office.
Tegeltija said that the Prosecutor’s Office has already informed the public of his status in the case, “which means that there is no basis for suspecting that I committed any criminal act, but that I have the status of a witness in that case.”
