Sarajevo, May 16, 2019 – Within the scope of the continuous EU support to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s the Rule of Law sector, the European Union officially launches the new project ‘EU4Justice: Support to the Fight against Organised Crime and Corruption in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)’ in the amount of EUR 2.2 million.
The project is implemented in partnership with the GIP Justice International Cooperation (JCI) from France and aims at enhancing efficiency of investigation and prosecution of serious corruption and organised crime cases through intensified cooperation along the criminal justice chain. This is a two-year project, which started in 2019, and will last until January 2021.
“Corruption and organised crime in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a big problem that needs to be tackled, and you do not really need the European Union to tell you so. This is a top priority for the European Union, not only in BiH but in the whole region,” underlined Mr. Khaldoun Sinno, Deputy Head of the Delegation of the European Union to BiH, adding that “It is important to note that we have a whole pool of experts from EU member states that will be made available to increase the trust of citizens in the justice system in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, in essence, is what this project is all about. This project aims to provide targeted support to finally establish a credible track record in the fight against organised crime and corruption, and enhance cooperation within the entire criminal justice chain in BiH.“
Judiciary institutions throughout BiH will be involved in the implementation, the High Judicial Prosecutorial Council, Prosecutors’ Offices, Courts, Ministries of Justice, Law Enforcement Agencies and APIK. The project aims to enhance the effectiveness, integrity and professionalism of the institutions in the Rule of Law sector in BiH. It will help to improve the cooperation between prosecution and law enforcement agencies to increase the efficiency of investigations in organised crime and corruption cases. It will also strengthen capacities regarding human resources and performance management as well as disciplinary frameworks and procedures.
H.E. Ambassador Guillaume Rousson, the Ambassador of the Republic of France to BiH, observed that in the context of the upcoming Opinion of the European Commission on BiH’s membership application, EU member states, particularly France, take a strong interest in the area of Rule of Law and that the project’s assistance is therefore timely in this regard. “It is not just one of the projects, it is specialised in terms of the modalities of implementation and the engagement of the pool of experts,” stressed Ambassador Rousson.
During the following two years the EU4Justice project will work on strengthening supervision and control in prosecutors’ offices, strengthening capacities, resources and the independence of the Office of the Disciplinary Council, as well as on joint trainings in an interdisciplinary fashion to better respond to organised crime, corruption and the most common forms of commercial crimes (such as privatisation of companies, tax evasion, tax fraud). The project will also work to improve current practice and results in forfeiting criminal assets. In addition, the project will implement tracking mechanism for improving mutual access to criminal case files by law enforcement agencies, prosecutors’ offices and courts.
“The key goal is to improve the interdisciplinary approach in the fight against corruption and organized and financial crime along the criminal justice chain, and the project will work with all BiH institutions, including all prosecutors’ offices, courts, the HJPC, the ministries of justice, APIK, and agencies for law enforcement “, said Ms. Isabelle Arnal, Team Leader of the EU4Justice project.
The GIP- JCI, an organisation which is in charge of this project, is the implementing body of the French Ministry of Justice. It enlists the expertise of the French legal community: judges, prosecutors, Law Enforcement Agencies, the National Training School (ENM). The Project Team will also resort to the French FIU (TRACFIN) the Agency for Seizure and Confiscation (AGRASC); and the National Financial Prosecution Service that deals with the most serious criminal investigations related to economic and financial offenses.
