HJPC Law Allows Members to Hold Two Jobs

For example, Milorad Novkovic has spent eight years in such a position. Novkovic was appointed a member of the HJPC in mid-2006. Two years later, he became the president of the HJPC. Although becoming president of HJPC meant he could no longer fulfill his duties at the District Court of Banja Luka, he continued to receive a salary from the district court as well. From mid-2006 to mid-2014, the HJPC and the District Court of Banja Luka have paid Novkovic a minimum of 490,000 convertible marks (KM).

Zijad Kadric, another member of the HJPC, has also been been receiving two salaries for the past six years. The HJPC alone has paid Kadric at least 360,000 marks for his full time job. In addition to being allowed to keep two jobs, members of the HJPC also receive benefits in the form of per diems. Kadric has been paid a per diem total of 53,000 marks since he began working at the HJPC – in 2012 alone he received 17,000 marks.

An evaluation from the Audit Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina addressed to the HJPC warned that “daily allowances and other travel costs should represent the reimbursement of costs for the execution of the given task, but not for executing duties which are established by the law.”

Right of Leave Granted by Law

The HJPC was established in the beginning of June 2004, with the goal of ensuring an independent and professional judiciary in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The HJPC appoints judges and prosecutors and monitors their work. The HJPC is financed from the state budget and by international donations.

In 2010, the Council of Ministers adopted a decision to increase the salaries of HJPC members. The president of the HJPC receives a monthly flat rate of 1,300 marks, while the vice-presidents and one full-time member receive 1,000 marks per month. The other HJPC members receive between 200 and 250 marks per day.

Milorad Novkovic, who up until recently served as the president of the HJPC, was also the president of the District Court in Banja Luka. From June 2008 to July 2014, he was paid 320,000 marks. Novkovic said that he did not come to work at the District Court in Banja Luka during his eight year tenure as president of the HJPC. He was paid 164,500 marks for his work in the HJPC. After the expiry of his mandate, he returned full-time to the position of president of the District Court in Banja Luka. According to the current law on the HJPC, on can be absent from their official function if executing duties for the HJPC.

Unlike Novkovic, Obren Buzanin is not engaged full time at the HJPC. However, his earnings remain quite high. Over the last eight years, he has received 590,000 marks both from the HJPC and the Supreme Court of Republika Srpska. Buzanin became a member of the HJPC in 2007, and to date has been paid 148,000 marks by the council. He doesn’t receive monthly payment, but earns money from HJPC sessions and from membership in four of the council’s seven standing commissions. He is also a judge and the president of the Criminal Division of the Supreme Court of Republika Srpska. During his eight years of HJPC membership his overall earnings total to approximately 442,000 marks.

Daily Allowances for Assigned Tasks

In addition to flat rate payments, the 39 members of the HJPC also received compensation close to 300,000 KM in per diems. Novkovic and Kadric have received the highest amount of per diem payments.

State auditors have repeatedly criticized the HJPC’s policies regarding per diem and travel expenses. In 2012, HJPC members received daily allowances of 50 marks per day, although the Council of Ministers ruled that this amount should be halved. At the end of 2012, the HJPC began to apply the Council of Ministers’ decision on the regulation of per diems.

HJPC member Zijad Kadric has served on the council for the last six years and has been paid a total of 132,238 marks in flat rate payments, per-diem allowances and fees. When adding the salary he receives from the Appellate Court of the District of Brcko from March 2009, his total combined earnings total 360,000 marks.

Kadric is a full-time member of the HJPC. The Judicial Commission of the District of Brcko said that he has the right to be absent from his position as a judge at the Appellate Court of the District of Brcko. His mandate in the HJPC will be end in two years, after which he can continue to work as a judge in Brcko.