Officials who do not declare property will be prosecuted

During 2018 alone, the Anti-Corruption Agency has undergone the procedure of preliminary investigations in a total of 390 cases. Of these cases, according to the AKK, 105 criminal charges have been forwarded to the chief state prosecutor's office.

Even this year, according to Anti-Corruption Agency officials, about four thousand and 700 senior public officials have been tasked with declaring property, but the number of those who have avoided declaring their property is not yet correctly known.

Kosovo Anti-Corruption Agency's Department for Prevention Director Africa Atatshi tells Radio Free Europe that the AKK is in the process of verifying the lists.

“The property declaration has been charged with about 4 thousand and 700 senior public officials. We have once verified the lists of who has declared who has declared it, (for) those who do not have legal reasonings, legal grounds, which sʹteves have stated in the pre-term, of course there should be criminal statements for all those who declared wealth, because it is a criminal offence to dismiss property in the pre- legal times”, Atashi says.

For persons who have declared property, the Anti-Corruption Agency is expected to make publication of forms in June. About 20 percent of public officials who have declared property will submit to full control of property to confirm the accuracy of what they have stated in their forms.

The director of the AKK's Corruption Prevention Department, Africa Atatshi, explains that in the event of a lack of data in forms, officials will be sent to the Prosecutor.

Those people who have incompatibility and who claim to be false, we verify through institutions. All those with incompatibility, of course the agency has the right to file criminal charges at competent prosecutors”, Atatshi explains.

At the end of March, during the presentation of the report for 2018, the AKK director, Shaip Havolli, said that due to the failure to declare property at the State Prosecutor's Office, to prosecute them, many senior institutional officials, including deputies, deputy ministers and other public names, have ended. Until now, however, none of the names have been made public.

Florent Spahija from the Kosovo Democratic Institute doubts the authenticity of the high officials' claim of property, especially political ones. Spahija says the State Prosecutor would have to investigate more of the financial aspect of senior state officials.

It would be if the prosecution investigated more financial aspects of senior state officials, their enrichment and agency with expertise, could provide assistance to the State Prosecutor in these cases. So, the financial investigation the agency does, even for the Prosecution in case the prosecution suspects criminal acts”, Spahija says.

The main goal of the wealth declaration process in the Anti-Corruption Agency is to identify cases of creating illegal assets by senior public officials in Kosovo.

Kosovo has been constantly criticised by the international community for high levels of corruption and the failure of the justice system.

The high level of corruption is seen as an obstacle to Kosovo's path towards European integration.