SARAJEVO, Dec 7 (Hina) - Bosnian Prime Minister Edhem Bicakcic in an +interview for Monday's issue of the Sarajevo daily "Oslobodnje", +estimated that comments by international community +representatives about corruption in Bosnia and
that local +authorities were not doing anything to curb it, were completely +unfounded.+ Bicakcic said that objections forwarded by Jacques Klein of the +Office of the High Representative and U.S. special envoy Richard +Sklar, were "absolutely unjustified".+ "Corruption does exist here. In order to combat it we need to +develop a legal system. The judiciary and prosecution are separated +from executive authorities and I can say that I am not satisfied +with either", said Bicakcic, adding that objections he forwarded +personally ended on the shelf.+ He holds that a founding precondition to battling the black market +is to establish complete supervision of the borders as well a
SARAJEVO, Dec 7 (Hina) - Bosnian Prime Minister Edhem Bicakcic in an
interview for Monday's issue of the Sarajevo daily "Oslobodnje",
estimated that comments by international community
representatives about corruption in Bosnia and that local
authorities were not doing anything to curb it, were completely
unfounded.
Bicakcic said that objections forwarded by Jacques Klein of the
Office of the High Representative and U.S. special envoy Richard
Sklar, were "absolutely unjustified".
"Corruption does exist here. In order to combat it we need to
develop a legal system. The judiciary and prosecution are separated
from executive authorities and I can say that I am not satisfied
with either", said Bicakcic, adding that objections he forwarded
personally ended on the shelf.
He holds that a founding precondition to battling the black market
is to establish complete supervision of the borders as well as
introducing a unique method of payment.
The federal premier is the first Bosnian official who has reacted
positively to warnings by U.S. administration about economic
circumstances in the country.
On several occasions, Klein and Sklar have accused the authorities
in Bosnia-Herzegovina of not being tolerant if not directly
supporting corruption and smuggling. This resulted in sharp words
being sent between them and Bosnian officials.
Alija Izetbegovic and Haris Silajdzic wrote to Sklar demanding he
back up his accusations or to "get off their backs".
The American diplomat answered that Bosnia would immediately
collaborate if the international community were to "get off their
backs".
The special U.S. team headed by Robert Gelbard will again visit
Bosnia this week.
The U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo did not release any definite reasons
for the visit however Sarajevo's "Avaz" newspaper states that this
is the final inventory of the situation in Bosnia prior to the
Madrid meeting to be held December 15 % 16.
According to the source, Gelbard and his associates will insist on
the realisation of previous agreements.
Bosnia will be faced with answering questions regarding
privatisation and economic reforms which have been lacking until
now.
In his interview to "Oslobodenje", Bicakcic evaluated that the
Bosnian Federation had done its job in preparation for
privatisation and did so much faster than neighbouring Slovenia,
Croatia or the Czech Republic, he warned however, the process had
still not begun.
It is expected that the first round of privatisation will commence
with the distribution of certificates for state owned property to
citizens while everything else will be left up to the market to
regulate, Bicakcic said.
The commencement of privatisation is expected as early as the
beginning of 1999 however, this is probably unrealistic as legal
pre-conditions have not yet been put in place.
(hina) sp