All that happened yesterday after arrests of state reserves

By order of the Special Prosecutor, Kosovo police on Friday morning put three people in handcuffs and conducted the raid on various locations in Pristina over the state reserve vicinity.

Two of those arrested were officials from the Ministry of Industry, Undertaking and Trade, the minister led by Roseta Hajdari state reserve department director Hafiz Gara and the director of the Department for European Integration, Irfan Libovica. The third arrested was the owner of the restaurant “Butter and Heart” in Pristina, Ridvan Muharremi.

The Special Prosecutor said yesterday that they are suspected of acts of using official duty, as well as of granting assistance in carrying out the criminal act of misusing official duty.

They were sent to the hold for 48 hours yesterday and within the legal deadlines will be applied for the detention assignment.

This morning event led to numerous reactions from various political officials to the heads of state.

President Vjosa Osmani, who was holding her usual visit to municipalities, was asked about the case. Her answer was that it is impossible to comment on the epilogue of this ongoing case.

My subx0... My commission is that for any process of justice and law enforcement institutions, we have to wait for the epilog of the cases and by this moment based on information we have it is impossible to prejudge the epilog of this case. So, institutions have their job”, she said from Kline.

The pressure to comment on this situation also became to Prime Minister Albin Kurti after an event in which he had participated in energy subsidies.

Kurt refused to answer the subject until he accused them of not being interested in the government's support measures for energy efficiency. He said it would be declared during the day.

Meanwhile, all three opposition parties demanded immediate dismissal and detailed investigation into Minister Roseta Hajdari. The PDK and LDK called the press conference.

The PDK said this government has lost any legitimacy and the country must go to early elections.

Meanwhile, the LDK, in addition to Hajdari's dismissal, also called for its arrest, saying the resignation is not enough.

The AAK did not invite the conference, but its leader, Ramush Haradinaj, was vocal in his request to bring down Kurti Government.

What else should happen to you who have votes, which you have fair, that you have mind and heart, and that you love Kosovo, to be convinced that this man's dismissal is a national duty today! ”, he said.

Before Kurti spoke as promised, a news conference called Minister Roseta Hajdari himself.

She has acknowledged that on the order for state reserves that were made during 2022, 3 % of the total order has been delayed.

For this, Minister Hajdari has said that in June 2023, they have committed state lawyers to initiate judicial procedure.

However, Hajdari said he has no intention of resigning after the recent arrests in the ministry, until he added there is no doubt about the two MINT officials.

The Ministry of Industry, Intervention and Trade said it expects the <x0organs of the investigation to take note that in addition to investigative work, they will not affect state security under any circumstances, as long as it comes to the state reserve of our Republic, classified under the Law for the State Reserve and the Law for the Protection of Classified Information”.

MINT also claimed that the issue is intended to be misinterpreted.

In the evening through a video on his official Facebook profile, the prime minister reacted with conviction that there is no corruption and misuse at the Hajdari Ministry.

He also said 97 per cent of the value bought last year of state reserves have reached Kosovo.

There is no corruption or misuse. I have full confidence in the minister [ of industry] Rosette Hajdari and her job. After the war in Ukraine, when there was a global crisis, the ministry it leads has bought the reserves and filled the warehouses at a time when all borders were closed and almost all states had banned exports”, Kurti said.

Kurti also said his governance “makes a radical difference in terms of Kosovo's 20-year rule”.

The losers are found in the old and corrupt political elite, to its judges and prosecutors, to the misused media for crime support”, Kurti said.

Their “efforts to change the situation are in the service of the plan to return the former corrupt and corrupt system”, he added.