Doctors and professors are forced to declare their wealth, the KP director: There has been criticism and hesitation

Doctors as well as public university professors are obliged to make property statements

Doctors as well as public university professors are obliged to make a statement of property.

The director of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption (APK), Yll Buleskaj, has stressed the importance of declaring property by doctors and professors.

Even though there has been criticism in the opinion of this request, Buleskaj has said it is a legal requirement defined by Parliament and the Ministry, and that doctors and professors of public universities are obliged to make that statement.

We have also had direct opinion on the criticism of why doctors and professors should make the statement of property when they are dressed in the garment of power, but offer services. This is a legal requirement, we have a Parliament a ministry and it has established these positions both doctors and public university professors as subjects declared. First there was a hesitation, there were complaints about us as well as about other institutions. But, from the beginning we as agencies have been seeking to inform that this is not the proper way as long as it is in law, they have to carry out that obligation or it becomes subject to sanctions whether they are criminal prosecutions. We have achieved that only eight of this group, over a thousand and three hundred, did not fulfill this obligation by the time of”, Buleskaj stated.

Initially, he has announced that there have been hesitations and complaints, but the Agency has all informed that meeting this obligation is mandatory and that those who do not commit it could face sanctions, including fines and criminal charges.

He added that of the more than 1,300 individuals in this group, only eight did not fulfill their commitment on time.

There has been resistance, but they have realized that it will be a duty, then if these institutions take a legal initiative where they can be expelled in the future, but as long as they are part of the law they have to fulfill this obligation. We'll only have two professors who haven't been declared and four or six doctors. All of them have fulfilled their vow, but after their term, eight of them are delayed. We're in the final process of putting electronic abuse reporting into operation, and it's finalized the agency signaling app. We are developing human capacities, and in this way not only confronting the burden that has been imposed by law as well as overstepping demands and being a well - mentioned institution. Europe's best practices are being put into operation, and by the next year the public will be observing”, he added.

He also mentioned that there are currently over 12,000 officials who are obliged to declare property, while only fewer than 10 officials are committed to verifying these statements.

“With transparency will increase trust in us, and we will continue to increase staff numbers by the end of the staff will reach 58 out of the 43 we have been. In the next year, we have important projects to try to improve the working conditions of our staff. We have over 12,000 officials giving out property statements while we have more than 10 officials doing the verification. It's a pretty big job the staff develops and we need additional staff to be more professionally careful”, he concluded.

Finally, the APK director argued that they will continue to increase the agency's staff number, aiming to reach 58 employees from the current 43. / EO