The investigation into the Serbian GEN payments to Martin Berisha: All evidence is in Serbia

The prosecution has reaffirmed that the criminal act was committed by a person who is a citizen of Serbia and that it is suspected that Berisha has assisted in the move.

The “given that the Republic of Serbia does not extradite its citizen, and given that the criminal act was allegedly committed on the territory of the Republic of Serbia, where the forbidden consequences have occurred and, given that all relevant evidence is also located in the Republic of Serbia, the case has had to be passed on to the competent authorities of the Republic of Serbia with the request for taking responsibility for prosecution”, the prosecution's response to the Albanian Post.

The Slovenian prosecutor has not provided more details, stressing the interest of maintaining investigations and personal data.

The scandal erupted three days before the recent parliamentary elections in Slovenia, when documents from a foreign anti-money laundering agency were published, mentioning payments by Gen Belgrade for two Berisha companies registered in Kosovo and Montenegro, with the same name, MB Consulting.

According to the data, Geni Belgrade transferred more than twom euros to several installments to Berisha's companies, while he reportedly has attracted almost 1.8m euros in cash. This has raised questions in public opinion about the nature of the services Berishaaj has provided, which is by profession a politicologist, and the reasons for attracting a large amount in the cash.

The contract with Berisha had been signed by Borislav Antović, financial adviser to Geni Belgrade, who has indicated that he cannot issue statements without the employers' permission.

Meanwhile, then-Geni Belgrade leader Igor Koprivnikar has suggested that the questions address the office for public relations in Geni, which has also stated there is no information on this procedure.

Gen Slovenia's board chairman, Max Helbl, has publicly stated in February 2023 that payments to Berisha represented 0.5% of the value of contracts for electricity supply to Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro, where Berisha had helped through information on the state of the energy system and market risks.

Berisha himself, ahead of a parliamentary investigative commission in Kosovo, has stressed that he has offered political advice on the company's strategies, without having a direct role in selling energy.

I advised the company how to act politically. I didn't have anything to do with selling energy, but I gave them a political view of strategies that have a state in a certain situation”, he said in November 2022.

Regarding allegations of money laundering, evasion from taxing and false reporting of property, Berishaaj, after being interviewed in March of last year, has again been interviewed by the Kosovo Special Prosecutor on June 26th of this year.

We can confirm that Mr. Martin Berishaaj was interviewed Thursday by the Special Prosecutor, under investigation that are under way against him regarding criminal acts “Money storage”, “Avoid the taxing” and “of false reporting or reporting of property, income, gift, other material benefits or financial obligations”, said in the SPRK media response.

To Martin Berishajaj, the prosecution had also launched investigations into misuse of the Kosovo citizens' voting process for votes from the diaspora.