The “case”, the number of pension beneficiaries remains unclear

Hysni Gucati, chairman of the KLA War Veterans Organisation, tells Radio Free Europe that the number of people who now do not get pensions has been conspicuously reduced. From the figure of about two thousand people, which he thinks have left the list, Gucati says 400 of them were from Albania.

About two thousand (2,000) have been removed from wages. Twenty (20) are persons who are caught with certifkatas and false decisions (false), they're just serving the sentence and they're from different regions, different municipalities. So this is real. Last month, 2,000 people received no salaries at all that they were removed from the” lists, Gucati said.

Gucati, said that in December 2019, pensions were receiving more than 37 thousand veterans.

By the end of the day, pensions have taken over 39 thousand, now the number has dropped to over 37.000. It means the prosecution is working. We have supported the prosecution earlier, we will support even now that for us it is the best way that work has begun gradually, quietly, leaving the pension lists who deserve”, Gucati said.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Labour and Social Management say that despite the investigation, the ministry is not officially informed by anyone about leaving the list of any person who retired earlier.

In this ministry, they say the figures are based on the List of Families of Witnesses and Invalids of War.

“from the list of retired war veteran benefits has not left any users as fraud, or as are called false “vetran”, since no official request has come to this department from competent retirement bodies. Legally until we have any such official paperwork, no one can leave the list”, the Ministry of Labour and Social Management said in a written reply.

According to data from this minister, in December 2019, in the war veterans' profit plan there were 38,101 veterans, while in January this year's pay list there are 38,156 beneficiaries of this scheme, which means increasing the number of beneficiaries rather than reducing them.

Meanwhile, Hysni Gucati tells Radio Free Europe that he does not know what the reports of co-operation between the ministry or government and other mechanisms on this issue are about, but he is convinced that more than two thousand people have left the list.

Gucati said that neither the association he represents has managed to secure a final list of persons receiving retirement as veterans.

I've been looking for them a couple times. I've been trying to figure out how much pay they've been getting this year. So I, the office on this issue, which is close to the prime minister, has never given me an answer to”, Gucati said.

Kosovo's Special Prosecutor, from the provided evidence, has confirmed that the illegal payments for war veterans of the former Kosovo Liberation Army, the budget of the Republic of Kosovo, has been damaged in the amount of over 68m euros.

This prosecutor has long announced that “has filed the indictment, which he sent to the Constitutional Court in Pristina against the 12 defendants, for the subject known in opinion as the UN, in the direction of the abuse of official position or authority”.

The State Prosecutor has said that the number of illegal beneficiaries from this category could be as many as 19 thousand.

Such a large number, mentioned by the Prosecution, had prompted the reaction of the KLA War Veterans Organisation, saying that on this large number of people's lists, there were also many former fighters who fought under the KLA's image.

This organisation has expressed disappointment over how the prosecution has made such mistakes, demanding immediate improvement of the lists.

Investigations are under way in different regions of Kosovo. So only at the Constitutional Prosecutor in Prizren have some 150 people been investigated for Radio Free Europe.

The Basic Prosecutorship in Prizren reports that, in terms of veterans' lists, about 150 persons are being investigated in the Constitutional Prosecutorship in Prizren. The prosecution is still in the initial phase of collecting necessary information and evidence, and that the prosecution's response will be made to the cases in question.

But in Prizren, the Constitutional Court told Radio Free Europe that they are informed of 32 cases, but that there is still no judgment ruling.