Selfish in Justice Essential in Fighting Corruption

There can be no fight against corruption or organised crime without the process of contributing to the justice system in Kosovo.

So said the Commission for Legislation, Mandata, Imunee, House Order and Supervisance of the Anti-Corruption Agency, where public hearing was held with Justice Minister Abelard Tahiri and the director of the Anti-Corruption Agency Shaip Havoli.

The chairman of this commission, Albulen Haxhiu, said there will be no independent justice system without the property process taking place.

Kosovo has made a property process, a certain elaborate, detailed assessment of judges and prosecutors we cannot possibly have an independent justice system, which will primarily handle cases of high profiles, which have already created illegal property at the expense of Kosovo citizens. I remember here at the time that the Justice Minister was Hajredin Red. Do you know how the law of expansion was passed on to confiscating property acquired by criminal acts? You have no idea what approach the government has had almost immediately after the adoption will no longer have corruption in Kosovo. It's five years after we have only two cases that have been resolved until the end that that bill has been implemented”, she said.

The property process took place in 2009, Hadziu called it a formal process that has not produced any effect. It proposed that Kosovo do self-saving as Albania has.

While Justice Minister Abelard Tahiri did not agree with what Haxhi said regarding the 2009 property.

Tahiri said he has taken some concrete steps in fighting corruption, where he mentioned they have taken some laws and some other changes.

According to him, the new Law on Anti-Corruption Agency, the Bill for the Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Practicing Public Function, the New Law on Protection of Informers, the Bill for Disciplinary Responsibilities of Judges and Prosecutors, the Bill for Conforming the Law on the Chief State Prosecutor, the completion of the Law for Expanding Capabilities for Confiscated Property, and the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure are some of the measures that have taken to fight corruption in Kosovo.

“As far as property was concerned, the property that occurred in 2010 did not happen as far as the page was concerned. I am informing you from this property process in the Republic of Kosovo that 45 judges and prosecutors have remained outside. Perhaps not many of those people have been mentioned, no greater publicity has been made, and to mention who are out of this process, it has remained outside 45 prosecutors and judges”, he said.

Kosovo's justice system property was also declared Betim Musliu by the Kosovo Institute for Justice.

There can be no fight against corruption or organised crime, nor any kind of crime in this country without once again having a cleanup of this justice system. With what we've seen during the monitoring all these years and with the credibility that it's in citizens in relation to judges and prosecutors, we see that this system needs to be shaken again, it needs these judges and these prosecutors once again to put them to good leave. And those who are very good at putting them in the positions they deserve, and those who are involved in corrupt relationships and who are appointed political we need to get them out of this system”, he said.

While skeptical about the property, the MP said, and member of this commission, Korab Sejdiu, who said that in the role of prosecutors and judges, students who have graduated by cheating will come.

Where you're taking the judge and the new prosecutor, you've been called by a group of students who are now a graduate lawyer who have chronically copied. They have passed tests as someone who has been constantly frustrated in the academic field, seeing them chronicly cheat and pass exams, praying to the professor and so on. While you could turn someone who's chronically copied and turn him into a prosecutor, a lawyer or honest judge, he said.

The commission's members criticised the concept of the suspension document of senior officials in the indictment. Where they considered this more of a form to eliminate political opponents.

But, Justice Minister Abelard Tahiri said that this document concept has been drawn up in the form of EU demand and that it is within the agenda of European reforms.

“It's a document concept, it's not a draft suspension of top public officials who are in the indictment, it's a document concept. This document concept has been drawn up to the EU requirement, is within the framework of the agenda of European reforms, is the EC's request, and I will install this document in criminal code. This document concept will be injected into criminal code, EU demand must be realised, and as justice minister I have three obligations. The State Prosecutor's Bill, the draft law on the prevention of conflict of interest and this document concept, which includes both the agenda of European reforms and the SAA implementation plan. It means these are EU requirements”, he said.

Vetevendosje member and MP Glauk Konjufca said there is no political definition to fight crime.

There is no political definition to fight crime, because I think a more powerful group leading Kosovo stands behind crime. 100 arguments, who's behind the crime, and you have the case with hundreds of thousands of cases like these that I'm explaining in Kosovo that I can count on which shows that a much more powerful scheme of power maintains the functioning of this crime. The cases of corruption are drastic in Kosovo -- nobody fights -- those who catch the thief in Kosovo are punished, those who take it in Kosovo are punishable by”, he said.

The director of the Anti-Corruption Agency, Shaip Havolli, said he believes that with the new law on this institution, it would provide even more space in the fight against corruption.

He announced that during this year over 200 information has been accepted where more than 100 of them have been sent to the prosecutor with criminal gossip.

This year's “has accepted over 200 information, where some 100 cases have been sent to the prosecutor with criminal speculation. More than 100 cases have been sent to the prosecution with criminal speculation. Similarly, for administrative violations, it has sent to relevant institutions over dozens of cases for initiating internal disciplinary procedure. This, as far as the corruption investigation is concerned, while the issue of prevention involving property statements as you know during this year has been 886 officials, where we are at the end of this review for 2016”, he said.