How did a councilor of Nešić’s party from Pale get a job in Nešić’s ministry?

The fact that the politicization of the civil service in BiH, that is, employment along the party lines, is a process that takes place continuously, behind a screen, in full view of the public, is also shown by the latest example in the BiH Ministry of Security BiH, which was discovered by Fokus.ba. The example that we have shed light on also has elements of nepotism and corruption, with an undertone of a conscious circumvention of the law.

While he was a councilor in the Municipal Assembly of Pale, on behalf of the DNS party, whose president is Nenad Nešić, Igor Đapić obtained the necessary permits from the BiH Civil Service Agency, as well as permits from the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) and Intelligence security agency (OSA) for access to classified “confidential” information.

What did the CEC say?

Đapić received these decisions for employment at the position of senior database development specialist in the IT sector of the BiH Ministry of Security. The Ministry of Security is headed by its party chief Nenad Nešić.

The spokesperson of the BiH Central Election Commission (CEC), Maksida Pirić, has on December 28 in the response to the inquiry of Focus confirmed that according to the CEC’s records Igor Đapić has a substitute mandate of a councilor in the Municipal Assembly of Pale, which he had won at the local elections 2020 on the list of Democratic People’s Alliance.

So, at the moment while he was still listed as a political official, elected at the 2020 local elections, in the CEC’s system, Đapić received ADS’ decision that he was selected through a vacancy procedure as a civil servant. Parallel to this, which is even worse, OSA and SIPA gave him the permission to access secret data in order to work in the IT sector of the BiH Ministry of Security. 

According to the vacancy that was announced on May 23 of last year, Đapić applied and got the position of senior database development specialist in the IT sector. According to  the job description this civil servant does design and development of databases, defines modes and strategy for preparation of data base backup and makes safety backups, analyses the software for database development and performs other duties and tasks as assigned by the immediate supervisor.

Special qualifications for this position are a degree for electrical engineering faculty or other technical faculty, passed professional administrative exam, two years of experience in the profession, as well as active knowledge of English language. However, apart from the fact that his work in the profession is questionable, Đapić, as we have learned, graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture.

Provisions of the law

But, all this aside, there is a legal provisions in this case that directly eliminates him from the employment in the Ministry of Security in this way.

Namely, according to Article 16, item e) of the Law on Civil Service in the institutions of BiH, which covers incompatibility with the civil servant’s duties, “A civil servant shall not be a member of governing or others boards of political parties and shall not follow political parties’ instructions.”

Furthermore, item c) of the same Article indicates incompatibility of a councilor position and the civil servant’s official duties, since this article inter alia reads: A civil servant shall be considered on leave from the Civil Service from the moment he is certified as a candidate for a public office which is directly or indirectly elected or from the moment he is appointed to a position within any legislative or executive body of authority at any level of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In such case, a civil servant holding a managerial position shall resign from the Civil Service.”

Fokus sent an inquiry of the BiH Civil Service Agency, but received a very short answer that after the completion of the vacancy procedure, Igor Đapić was selected to the position of the senior database development specialist in the BiH Ministry of Security.

Article 34 of the Law on Civil Service reads that the selection committee is composed of at least five members, whereof at least two members from the institution for which the vacancy was announced. In this case two persons from the BiH Ministry of Security were appointed directly by minister Nešić.

Article 59 of the Law on the Protection of Secret Data, which covers security concerns, is also very interesting considering the fact that Đapić comes from politics, i.e. that he is related by party lines to the BiH Minister of Security and it raises the question about SIPA's and OSA's actions in case Đapić is allowed access to classified information.

Item f) of this Article reads that security concerns for which access to secret data is refused also include “established existence of security-related concerns regarding one or more statements made in the security clearance questionnaire which serve as ground for suspicion about the credibility, loyalty to the state and confidentiality of the person to be provided access, use, safekeeping and protection of secret data.”

Fokus sent an official inquiry to the Ministry of Security and minister Nešić, but we haven’t receive any answers by the time this text was published. If we do receive them, they will be published later. We asked the Ministry, among other things, according to which criteria Đapić was chosen for the position of senior database development specialist in the IT sector, and for a comment on his affiliation with the party whose president is Nešić.

Đapić’s statement

In his statement to Fokus on January 8 Igor Đapić confirmed the information that he got the position of the senior database development specialist in the IT sector of the BiH Ministry of Security.

– When it comes to my councilor’s mandate in the municipality, I have submitted a request for my discharge was submitted. Since it was a holiday season, my request will be duly documented. The first person on the list after me will get the mandate and it will be end as it is supposed to. Look, I was selected in a vacancy procedure and until I received the decision I could not give up something. So, I could not return the mandate without knowing I will get the job. Once I come to my job on January 10 I will be in the process of handing over the mandate to the next person. I know what the law stipulates and there is no controversy around me – said Đapić.

Đapić also confirmed that he graduated from the faculty of agriculture, but have stress that it is a technical faculty, which in his opinion meets the requirements of the vacancy.