Andrew Shala was sentenced to two years in prison for favouring the shaganak business

Two years of imprisonment is the punitive act pronounced by the Constitutional Court in Pristina on Monday for former Industry and Trade Minister Andrew Shala.

The Special Prosecutor accuses Shala of misusing official office because he has adopted a decision that, according to the indictment, has favoured the bajanak, enabling him illegal gain.

Violetta Namani-Haira's panel of judges has said that Shala has been rescinded by “due to use of the official task” in “Conflict interest”.

According to her, the decision will be executed when it becomes of a formal form.

The defendant's “trial, after assessing personal and material evidence, estimated that in the actions of the defendant Andrew Shala did not meet the criminal offence of the official duty or authority '%s' by Article 1414 paragraph 2 of the Kosovo Republic of Kosovo Penal Code, but after managing personal and material tests, the court estimated that in the actions of defendant Endri Shala, elements of the criminal act of interest by Article 417 paragraph 2 concerning paragraph 1 of the Republic of Kosovo Penal Code<1], Namanaj has said.

The Special Prosecutor has welcomed the former minister's sentence.

“The PSRK considers the condemnation pronounced against E. St. as an important result of the functioning of the justice system and institutional efforts to strengthen the rule of law”, the PSRK's announcement said.

But the defense has considered that the legal framework does not envision the bajanack as a category by which it estimates that the person with public authorization may have a conflict of interest.

The Dream Shala issue does not raise complex actual dilemmas. Its core is purely legal, and that is why it is disturbing. Article 417, paragraph 6 of the Penal Code of the Republic of Kosovo, has clearly, completely and depletingly defined around persons considered family members for the purposes of criminal acts of conflict of interest. That arrangement does not include bajanaku, nor does brother - in - law include, nor does it include members of the marriage gender. The lawmaker has knowingly chosen whom he will include and whom he will exclude from this criminal rate. This choice may be liked or not, it may be considered narrow or broad, but it cannot be corrected by the Doq” tribunal, former Prime Minister Shala's lawyer, Besnik Berisha, has said.

The Special Prosecutor claims that on May 30, 2019, Shala has made the decision with which he has named his bajanak business (V.T.), N.S. Euro Inspector, as responsible for assessing the conformity of oil fuels in Kosovo.

As a result of this decision, according to the prosecution body, the bajanak business has been illegally enriched worth 732 thousand euros.

In the same indictment as Shala being tried is former Prime Minister Vesel Krasniqi, who is deputy chairman of the Malisheva municipality, but for her the procedure has been isolated on behalf of efficient development of the criminal procedure.

At the time they were in the government, both Shala and Krasniqi were part of the Initiative party.