RUGIP renounced the practice of favouring lawyers

By signing a memorandum of cooperation with the Chamber of Advocates of Republika Srpska, the Republican Administration for Geodetic and Property Legal Affairs (RUGIPP) renounced the practice and legacy of its former director, Bosiljka Predragović, who established a system through which a small group of lawyers became rich in representation, while all the rest could not earn even 1KM.

Author by: CAPITAL

According to CAPITAL's knowledge, in a few days the director of RUGIPP, Dragan Stanković, will issue an internal instruction to all heads of regional units to strictly observe the application of this act so that all lawyers have equal participation.

The President of the Bar Association of Republika Srpska, Dalibor Mrša, explains that the memorandum stipulates the obligations of both parties.

Thus, RUGIPP is obliged to inform the Chamber about planned activities and the need for appointments, while the Chamber delegates lawyers.

“If somewhere there is a plan to exhibit real estate, expropriate land or any procedures where lawyers should be appointed as temporary representatives, the Administration will inform us about it. The Chamber compiles a list of lawyers and follows the order”, says Mrša.

He adds that the Chamber will update the data and monitor the even distribution and that in case of observed irregularities, such as the fact that some lawyers repeat themselves as representatives, they will react.

“The burden of updating and providing the information is on the Chamber, as is the burden of monitoring the equal participation of lawyers. On the other hand, it was agreed that at any moment when information is requested about who is engaged and where, it would be obtained immediately”, said Mrša.

This memorandum regulates the issues of appointing temporary representatives in administrative proceedings conducted by RUGIPP in accordance with the Law on General Administrative Procedure and other material regulations.

By signing this memorandum, RUGIPP and the Bar Association want to organise in a transparent manner the appointment of temporary representatives in administrative proceedings, the implementation of which is under the jurisdiction of RUGIPP, and in which proceedings lawyers who are registered in the Directory of Advocates of the Bar Association of Republika Srpska are appointed as temporary representatives, pointed out Stanković.

This memorandum will regulate cooperation between the Bar Association and RUGIPP in administrative proceedings in which a temporary representative is appointed, said Dalibor Mrša, president of the Bar Association.

RUGIP announced that the goal of the memorandum is to ensure the economy and efficiency of administrative procedures with the equal participation of lawyers from the provided list of lawyers.

“The memorandum was concluded for the period from the passing of the law defining the area in question”, they said.

In other news, by signing this act, the Chamber and RUGIP started to bury the hatchets that were unearthed two years ago, when CAPITAL discovered that the then administration of RUGIP favours a small group of lawyers while ignoring most of the others.

It was only after Predragović left the Administration that the true extent of this favouritism was revealed.

The data with the salary list, obtained by the CAPITAL portal through the court, show that lawyers received 2.5 million KM in the last few years, of which only five lawyers received more than a million KM.

We remind you that RUGIP did not have any restrictions when choosing a lawyer, that is, it could hire whoever it wanted, unlimited times. It turns out that right has been brutally abused.

Although there are about 430 names in the directory of the Bar Association, only selected ones could cooperate with them since 2015.

Previously, Predragović defended herself by claiming that not all lawyers can represent clients well, but the legal community did not believe her.

It caused a great revolt, so the Chamber reported it to the prosecutor's office and initiated changes to the Law on General Administrative Procedure.