Nezavisne novine: All the institutions, which work on issuing personal documents in BiH must until August 15 have anti-corruption programs, because without such documents the conditions for liberalization of visa regime cannot be fulfilled. This has been confirmed by Siniša Macan, director of the Identification Documents, Data Exchange and Evidence Agency (IDDEEA).
He has reminded that in the area of safety of documents, except for issuing biometric passports, BiH has an obligation towards the EU to adopt and implement ant-corruption programs, quicken notifying the Interpol on stolen passports and introduce electronic delivering of data from master offices. Macan says that they have sent the instructions for drafting the anti-corruption programs, and has reminded that 162 institutions in BiH work on issuing documents, and possibilities of corruption must be excluded in all of them.
"In the frame of their competencies and organization, they have to adopt the anti-corruption program, which is implementable. Many of them have already done this, but as the final deadline, we gave them August 15", has been said by Macan, who is also a member of the BiH negotiation team with the EC on liberalization of visa regime. He does not expect some problems in liberalization of visa regime because of the anti-corruption program, but it might come to problems later.
"This is a long-lastingly key condition because anti-corruption and tools for combat against corruption are something without which we will not pass, because it is about the safety of countries of the EU. They do not trust our system unless we change all standards and this is why they are putting an additional filter of verification – visas", Macan has explained. He points out that all requirements of the EU are justified because in some master offices there were no inspection controls for decades, and investigations in the Prosecution of BiH on issuing fake personal documents confirms some omissions. Macan claims that the guidelines sent by the IDDEEA, have been based on international standards of the Group 8 and it is necessary to have a detailed program, which includes a regular and unexpected inspection supervision, control of documentation, more active work of management and visit of locations at which the documents are being issued. He especially points out on contacts of the authorities, which work on documents.
Evidence of stolen documents
The director of the IDDEEA, Siniša Macan has pointed out that in the central database in biometric system, which has started to work from July 6, this year, registration of stolen documents in the Interpol registry has been improved as well. According to decision of the Council of Ministers of BiH, electronic maintaining of master books should start from December 31st, this year. Change of the Law on master books will happen before this due to data exchange.
"If someone (27 years old) shows up in BiH for the first time, someone who has never had a document, but has received a citizenship, this is a clear signal to the servant to check who that person is, where that person has resided, and how come that they have never register anywhere. This implies a list of mechanisms of cooperation of institutions on issuing documents and daily communication. For years we have been focused on question if the document is protected, but the best protection is work with people", Macan has said. The action plans for combat against corruption in some ministries of internal affairs already exist for awhile, and that is the reason why it will not be a problem to fulfill this condition.
Mirna Šoja, spokesperson of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RS, claims that in the frame of the Action plan for combat against corruption there are defined mechanisms for suppressing corruption in services which issue documents as well.
"There is also a code of conduct for civil servants, and it has been created in harmonization with standards of the EC. All servants have signed the statements that they will behave in accordance to this code. Servants, who work on issuing documents, have passed some trainings and required verifications. There is also a rulebook on disciplinary and material responsibility of employed in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RS", Šoja has said.
Miralem Malkić, spokesperson of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Tuzlanski canton, says that the anti-corruption action plan has already been used for years, and on basis of this program there has been formed a team, which implements and monitors all the activities in suppressing corruption.
"This is, actually, first phase in the strategy of combat against corruption in BiH and ministries of internal affairs are included in it. Control of servants on issuing documents has been sharpened, and new standards have been introduced. We ask the citizens to contribute in combat against corruption and notify the cases of corruption if they face them", Malkić has said.