COPPOLA AND DIVJAK DISCUSSED STRATEGIES TO FIGHT CORRUPTION IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 11,2007) – The fight against police corruption and the good cooperation between the EU Police Mission and Transparency International was the topic of yesterday’s meeting between Brigadier General Vincenzo Coppola, Head of the EU Police Mission in Bosnia(EUPM), and Boris Divjak, President of the Board of Directors of Transparency International in Bosnia.

“The fight against police corruption falls directly under our mandate,” said General Coppola yesterday.

“We know that corruption within the police exists. We have therefore undertaken a number of inspections to curb this problem. In addition, we have encouraged the local police forces to devise and implement their own anti-corruption strategies,” Coppola said.

Coppola further briefed Divjak about the EUPM-led initiative of increasing police accountability:

“Our aim is to intensify disciplinary measures against corrupt individuals, promote available instruments that citizens can use to report unethical and illegal behaviour of police officers such as the Public Complaints Bureaus,” he said.

Talking about future activities,Coppola informed Divjak about the EUPM’s intention to address the issue of corruption also with the Bosnian state prosecutors:

“We are currently organizing a police-prosecutor conference aimed at increasing the cooperation between the police and the prosecution. This two-day conference, which will take place coming Thursday and Friday, will also tackle the issue of the fight against corruption,” said Coppola. “I would like to thank TI for the good cooperation thus far and am assured that we will continue our joint efforts in the fight against corruption,”Coppola said.

Divjak expressed his willingness to continue cooperation with all international and local institutions on corruption prevention.

Divjak also noted a concrete contribution of the Transparency International to fight against corruption through ‘Advocacy and Legal Advice Center', which provided legal aid for over 8,000 Bosnian citizens victims of corruption.