The New Croat Initiative (NHI) has failed to sanction Mr. Mijat Tuka, a NHI Deputy in the BiH House of Representatives, forcing the High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, to take action himself. The High Representative removed Mr. Tuka from his position today, in line with the letter he sent to NHI Party President, Kresimir Zubak, on 20th of March.
Issuing this decision the High Representative said “as seven days have passed, and the party has not taken action, nor has Mr. Tuka accepted responsibility and taken action himself, I have taken the decision to remove Mr. Tuka myself in order to protect the reputation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and its institutions, at home and abroad”.
The Special Auditors report presented last week highlights that Mr. Tuka, whilst leading the FBiH Ministry of Social Affairs and Refugees, failed to manage the Ministry’s budget in a transparent and a accountable manner. The report shows the systematic abuse of the financial controls for disbursing funds, by the very people who were charged to uphold them, including the acting minister at the time, Mijat Tuka. In effect these failures robbed some of the most vulnerable in BiH society today: refugees and displaced persons.
The High Representatives Decision also bars Mr. Tuka from holding any official, elective or appointed public office, from running in elections and from holding office within a political party.