Abbott: I'm surprised at some people's cars and fancy clothes, they may not have come from the diaspora.

Kosovo's justice system must investigate and fight the money laundering phenomenon, while the country faces a lack of confiscation of property acquired illegally.

So said at the workshop organised by the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council and the Kosovo Judiciary Council, along with the British Embassy on the topic “Money/reprogressing assets”.

United Kingdom Ambassador to Kosovo Nicholas Abbott until he has offered his state's support for Kosovo in fighting this phenomenon said the penalty of money laundering is not complete without the seizure of illegally acquired property.

Abbott hopes this worker will serve as a good platform for exchanging experiences, best challenges and practices in investigating and prosecuting money laundering and confiscating illegal property.

The British ambassador said the money laundering phenomenon is very present in Kosovo, so he asked judges and prosecutors to fight this phenomenon, and especially to deal seriously with the seizure of illegally acquired property.

He even said that in Kosovo there are people who live with high standards in exchange for income, so he also asked for their investigation.

In Kosovo, however, we still see people walking around in cars and expensive clothes, looking at luxury hotels and cafes, beautiful homes and the way of living in spend time with personal income. These cases that aren't generated by business or regular employment I don't believe are being supported by even the means sent by cousins abroad. You are the ones to investigate, discover, condemn and destroy money laundering schemes. And if you don't seize illegally acquired property, the job is not complete. Not only sentences, but also seizures depend on you, not on politicians, much less from the national community”, Abbott said.

Kosovo Judiciary Council chief Skender Cuchaj stated that the size of the money laundering phenomenon is disturbing, to which neither Kosovo is immune.

According to him, this phenomenon is even marking growth in Kosovo society, despite the fact that the prosecution by the landmark organs has marked growth.

“Follow this phenomenon unfortunately in Kosovo society, we have not remained immune, rather the trains of this criminal phenomenon are growing in terms that the chase by state bodies is at an all-powerful rate. Moreover, we also have in place the financial intelligence unit, which has the role of helping national authorities to prosecute and investigate this criminal act. It should be noted that on the legislative level Kosovo has been surrounding its legislation with reports of the International Convention and EU directives referring to this area, but that undoubtedly remains the most powerful work and commitment of all relevant activists”, he said.

And Kosovo Prosecutorial Council Chairman Bahri Hyseni has said that Kosovo succeeds in the provisional sequencing of assets but lacking property seizures. According to him, the challenge for the state of Kosovo and especially for the justice system has remained organised crime and corruption.

Because the Prosecutorial Council has created an inter-initiative mechanism to sum up all the acts involved by the signatories of this characteristic criminal mechanism related to corruption, organised crime, money laundering... We are trying to virtually seek accountability in the days ahead on the seizure issue as one of the most fundamental problems we have in the system. We are all aware that Kosovo has a success as far as the provisional selection of assets is concerned, that is millions of euros just missing the eventual seizure that is objective and for which we have organised several joint meetings”, Hyseni stressed.

From Great Britain to extend the prospect of this state and the European Union in fighting organised crime had come the judge, H. HJ Milchale Hopmeier, who said that the fight of money laundering and the confiscation of illegally acquired property is done through efficient laws that are implemented.

Hompemier, who is judge at Southwark Crown Court in Great Britain, said regional co-operation is extremely important for fighting this phenomenon.

“There is a degree of considerable co-operation in this area and co-operation in this area is so important because organised crime in Kosovo if there are individuals and I am told that there is such a degree of co-operation, it doesn't leave them their profits from his criminal activity, they don't leave them in the banks of Kosovo ... But they send them to other states so states should cooperate with each other in terms of investigations to find all those assets so that they can return to”, British Judge stressed. In the workshop where money laundering is being discussed and the repair of participating assets were prosecutors and judges from the country.