International sanctions on persons involved in Kosovo corrupts

Persons involved in suspected cases of corruption and organised crime, part of which are officials or former Kosovo state officials, may soon face the first international sanctions, including visa rejection and travel to specific states.

Early warnings have come from the United States and Great Britain.

In the meantime, civil society in Kosovo encourages local authorities to harmonise the legal framework so that persons involved in near crime and corruption cannot maintain their public functions at all.

Citing names, cases where top state officials, among other things, are suspected of corruption, fraud and organised crime earlier this month the US Embassy in Pristina, announced it would not provide visas to individuals involved in cases of crime and corruption.

In her announcement, the US Embassy has expressed concern that “nobody is being held accountable” for major cases, isolating cases: Pronto, Italian visas, leaving Dubrava prison, Earth and Appex.

“We will continue to publicly express our concern that no one is being held accountable, including Kosovo officials, corruption and organised crime that are clearly present in Pronto cases, Italian visas, leaving the Dubrava prison, Earth, and Appex, as well as in other similar cases”, has stressed the embassy's announcement.

This decision of the United States has been supported by the United Kingdom Embassy in Pristina. British Ambassador Ruairi O'Connell, through a statement in “Facebook”, has warned of similar measures for those involved in corrupt links and organised crime.

Whatever history is criminal and is related to corruption, it won't be able to enter the United Kingdom”, O'Connell wrote.

In cases isolated from the US Embassy, as accused, there are include top state officials, such as current ministers and ministers in the Government of Kosovo, former deputy ministers, deputies and former allies, former mayors, political advisers, company directors and other officials, from central and local power.

Supporting the actions of the two embassies, civil society is demanding that “visa non-communal” be not the only punishment for involving those involved in organised crime and corruption.

In a statement to Radio Free Europe, Kosovo Institute for Justice Executive Director Ehat Miftaraj has criticised the judicial and prosecutorial system for “lack of results and the construction of the culture of impunity in high profile case”.

The reactions of the two main, American and British embassies, which are finally beginning to have another approach, in a way punishing corrupt senior officials, is a new approach, which can certainly have its own impact, including the raising of accountability, raising the responsibility of the judicial system, and the prosecutor in Kosovo”, has stressed Miftaraj.

But, according to Miftaright, besides refusing visas, the US Embassy, the United Kingdom and other strong “ ” embassies, should disrupt co-operation with suspected or accused officials for involvement in corrupts and organised crime.

Whatever the case, these statements will have no effect, if even in practice no additional action is taken, where corrupt political officials, such as the American and British embassies, but also other powerful embassies, should be bypassed and should not have co-operation with the key justice system actors, for whom already in public are raised corruption-based allegations, whether with political groups of interest or criminal groups”, he has said further.

While Arton Demhasey, director of the non-governmental organisation “Arise”, has said that justice institutions should eventually end up investigating and send to the suffering of punishment, involved in corrupts and organised crime”.

In the absence of moral resignations, according to Demhasey, officials involved in such cases should initially be forced by law to resign or be dismissed in order to protect the state image and function institutions.

And we, as civil society, as well as we as Hirre, have been required to become a law, to be unable to (remain function) to senior public officials, who are involved in corrupts or organized crime”.

When an indictment arises against them, they are forced to resign from their positions, because we consider it unfair to maintain the function and it is harmful to the institution, at the moment when to a ministry, to a mayor, to a secretary or to another senior state official, an act of corruption and organised crime arises and he continues to exercise the function, we consider that it is very harmful<1>, Demhaje noted.

In the last three years in Kosovo, no high profile officials have been convicted of corruption with bias of formal form and effective prison.

In local prosecutors and courts, hundreds of cases related to corruption still remain. While the lack of efficiency in fighting organised crime and corruption has been consistently praised as an obstacle to attracting foreign direct investment to Kosovo.