Miftaraj says there is no courage to investigate corruption: Government Mentality Has Changed

He even says there is a lack of courage to investigate, prosecute and try criminal acts of corruption.

He adds that the mentality has not changed, claiming that the results guaranteeing clean hands and based on the principles of rule of law and good government are not being seen.

The “based on the monitoring we're doing can be said to be no big difference from the previous years. We almost have the same lack of courage to investigate, prosecute and try criminal acts of corruption”.

“We have a complete lack of implementation of provisions dealing with the seizure of property acquired through criminal acts of corruption, but that what we are seeing there is no other governance mentality that would guarantee government with clean hands and governance that is based on the principles of rule of law and good governance”, he said.

Regarding the Bureau for the seizure of unwarranted property, he said the Venice Commission's comments would have to be taken seriously by the Ministry of Justice.

According to Miftaraj, if this law were to be implemented in practice as envisioned then it would be an extraordinary method to seize illegally acquired property that wealth would then be poured into Kosovo's budget, EO reports.

“In the recent publication that the Law Institute has made in January this year concerning the bureau for the seizure of unwarranted property that this law is the Government's legitimate right to seize property acquired through criminal acts. However, the same bill had had major legal defects that violated both legal security and even the basic rights and freedoms of citizens who could be subject to this law. In this regard, I believe that the comments of the Venice Commission are valid and should be taken seriously as by the Ministry of Justice as well as by other acts who will be involved in completing the change of this 34x1> law.

The law proposed by the Ministry of Justice has such major defects that in a way make it impossible for this law to go into effect unless the problems related to lack of judicial security with restrictions on human rights and freedoms are avoided. If this law were to be done in the right way and if it were implemented in practice as it is foretold, then it would be an extraordinary method to seize illegally acquired property, which would then be poured into the Kosovo budget”, Miftaraj said.