Pristina, September 5, 2012 – Movement FOL, published online the platform of the declaration and comparison of assets of senior public officials.
This platform is integrated into the website of Movement FOL (http://levizjafol.org/al/deklarimet), and which enables: a) Automatic declaration and comparison of the assets of senior public officials, b) Inclusion of Kosovo citizens actively through comments and facts that they have regarding the statements of certain officials, and c) Through this platform and through the facts to come in the coming days we will initiate procedures to amend the law on declaration, in order to include investigation of the property when there are certain doubts.

The platform includes 224 senior public officials, where for each individually Kosovo citizens can compare the statements of assets and also comment on them for each category declared. Comments that will be provided in the platform after a certain period of time will be sent to the Anti-Corruption Agency and the State Prosecution Office, in order to start an investigation about the declarations that eventually are not accurate or about high level of the differences from a year to another without any reasonable explanation.

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About 40 volunteers participating in this camp will be from three different municipalities; Prishtina, Gjakova and Podujeva. Participants will be young people who are active and influential in their organizations, councils and youth clubs in their respective municipalities so that the knowledge gained while attending the camp will be transmitted to the young people of the municipalities they come from.

The camp program will be based on 4 modules: State and Elections, Judiciary, Media and NGO / Street Theatre.

The purpose of the camp is to support and strengthen active citizenry in Kosovo as the best way to advance democracy and increase the accountability of public institutions towards citizens. Accountability and transparency are the best ways to fight corruption and abuse of public authority.
Volunteer Summer Camp 2012 is organized by Movement FOL and supported by Charless Mott Foundation

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Prishtina, August 4, 2012 – Today, Movement FOL has published its report ‘Corruption Monitor’, which includes all institutional activities undertaken in the fight against corruption for six-month from January to June 2012.

According to the findings of this report we find out that “a larger geographical extent of corruption is in Prishtina – with 50 cases in prosecutions of the country, then Peja with 19 cases; Gjilan with 10; Prizren with 7; Ferizaj with 8; and Gjakova with 4 cases.
Meanwhile, the prosecutors that were not successful in the fight against corruption are: district and municipal prosecution of Mitrovica, and Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo, which in the first half of this year did not raise even one single charge.

According to this report nearly the same are the municipal courts of Kosovo, which during this period have solved 64 cases: 36 in the context of abuse of official position, 10 in category of Taking Bribe and 18 in Giving Bribe. Meanwhile, at the end of the reporting period there are 187 cases unsolved: 126 in the category of Abuse of official position, 40 in category of Accepting Bribes and 21 in Giving Bribe.

FOL , within this report also published the statistics of the Department for Investigation of Economic Crimes and Corruption (DIECC), which shows that the Kosovo Police in the first six months of 2012 has conducted investigations in 95 Cases, 28 various public officials have been arrested, 69 Cases have been sent to the Prosecution with identified perpetrators, 1 case with unknown perpetrators (N / N), and 9 other cases with special prosecutor’s report.

Movement FOL concludes that the executive of the country has not demonstrated the will to fight corruption and prevent it in public institutions. Among the 180 decisions taken, according this report, only 4 of them have been in the “fight” against corruption: a) the approval of the Anti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan 2012-2016, b) establishment of the Executive Committee “Governance” (which will be focused on anti-corruption policies), and c) approval of the Anti-Corruption Agency’s request for dismissal of Mr. Elez Hajdaraj, a member of the Board of Directors of “Hidrodrini”, Sh.A. Peja and d) approval of another request of ACA for dismissal of Mr. Ismajl Jonuzi, member of the Board of Directors of the Kosovo Energy Corporation (KEK).

According to the report neither the Assembly of Kosovo was more productive in preventing and fighting corruption. From 29 plenary sessions held , only in two of them was discussed about the fight “against” corruption: a) Anti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan 2012-2016 and b) Annual Report of the Anti Corruption Agency (2011). Regardless the discussions in these two sessions, they had no impact on reducing the high level of corruption in the country.
Check this link for full report link: http://levizjafol.org/images/uploads/files/Monitoruesi_i_Korrupsionit_-_Raporti_Gjashtemujor_2012.pdf

Prishtina, August 2, 2012 – Today, Movement FOL held a press conference, presenting the report “Procurement Monitor” for April to June 2012 period. This report includes legal irregularities conducted by Ministries, Municipalities and Public Enterprise in the field of public procurement.
Programs Manager at Movement FOL, Fidan Kalaja, said that “the data in this report show ‘recidivism’ of many institutions and public enterprises in the legal violations committed during the procurement procedure.” According to him, “KEC leads this group, where during the first half of this year this company has committed offense in 6 different procurement activities, followed by PTK and the Ministry of Infrastructure in three tenders.”

Furthermore, Fidan Kalaja said that “during three-month period from April to June 2012, these institutions have committed violations in 13 different tenders.” He stressed that “among these 13 irregular tenders, we managed to find out their financial amount for only 4 of them, which turns out to be 2.6 million euro, an amount which potentially may have been misused.” However, the majority of other tenders are of great value, which according to the Procurement Law are tenders over 500 thousand euro.
Meanwhile, the Project Coordinator of the Movement FOL, Kenan Tora, said that “ministries have violated the provisions of public procurement in 4 tenders, the Ministry of Infrastructure has violated on two different procurement activities, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports in one procurement activity and Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development in one procurement activity. “

Public Enterprises (KEC and PTK) have continued with violation even during this period, Kosovo Energy Corporation has committed violations in 3 procurement activities, while PTK have committed violations in two tenders.

Municipalities have committed violations in four procurement activities, the municipality of Gjilan, Viti, Ferizaj and Kamenica have committed violations in one procurement activity.
During the three-month period the daily papers have published a total of 62 different reports. Among them 21 journalistic research reports: 6 in April, 8 in May and 7 in June. Meanwhile, 41 of them have been published as breaking news: 13 in April, 23 in May and 5 of them in June.

This activity is funded by the project Democratic Society Promotion (DSP) – funded by the Swiss Cooperation Office in Kosovo (SCO-K) and managed by the Foundation for Civil Society (KCSF) and supported by the Civil Rights Defenders (CRD).

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Movement FOL after the establishment of the debating club in Gjakova continued expansion of the participating municipalities in the debate program with Podujeva. On Thursday, July 26, 2012 at the offices of the Department of Culture – Podujeva, was held a training on “Karl Popper” format debate for high school students, where initially we established 3 teams. The newly established debate clubs in the municipality of Podujeva will participate in debate tournaments which will be organized in the future. During the Friday, we also held a training for RAE young people and also a debate among young people in the municipality of Gjakova.

Movement FOL has re-turned the debate program in Kosovo, in 2009. The debate program currently is active in eight municipalities in Kosovo. Initially were involved three municipalities (Municipality of Prishtina, Peja and Ferizaj) whereas during 2011, the program has been extended to three other municipalities (Municipality of Suhareka, Malisheva and Mitrovica). Whereas in 2012 have been included the municipality of Prizren. Besides the inclusion of Gjakova, FOL movement aims to expand the program in other municipalities of Kosovo as well, in order to include as many as possible young people in the program of debate.

The debate is an exceptional opportunity for youth development and education. To achieve success in academic and school life, young people need to know how to express their ideas and how to respond to the arguments of others who they disagree with. In a democratic society debate expands students’ knowledge, ways to understand the political and social developments and to argue about issues which they believe in.

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Prishtina, July 26, 2012 – Today, Movement FOL sent a letter to the President, Mrs. Atifete Jahjaga, proposing for Kosovo’s membership in Open Government Partnership (OGP).
OGP is an international organization for promotion of open government. This initiative aims to provide concrete commitments by governments for transparency, strengthen active citizenship, in the fight against corruption and strengthen good governance of a country.

In this context, considering the low level of transparency in public institutions as one of the promoters of the high level of corruption in the country, Movement FOL requires President Jahjaga to accept this proposal and initiate Kosovo’s membership in this organization. FOL Movement expresses its readiness for cooperation and assistance in every phase of Kosovo’s membership in this organization.

The letter sent to president can be found in this link:

http://levizjafol.org/images/uploads/files/Propozimi_per_anetarsimin_e_Kosoves_ne_OGP.pdf

Prishtina, 24 July – On Tuesday, Movement FOL Advisory Board held its next meeting. FOL Movement staff and board members of the organization welcomed the new member of the Board, Astrit Gashi, and who was reported extensively on the work of the organization.
Then, the meeting continued with a discussion regarding the general ongoing of the organization, FOL’s engagements in the first half of this year and the work and planned activities that will be realized until the end of this year.

At this meeting, among the most important issues discussed was the draft strategy 2013-2015 of Movement FOL, and evaluation of the work of FOL Movement in relation to the impact on institutions and the public. The Board in this meeting agreed that both documents be discussed during this period more widely with the staff, members of the Board, Assembly members and friends of FOL in order to be an objective, consistent, comparable evaluation and which would be in the service of a more advanced work in the favour of organization’s mission.

Regarding this, the Board agreed that until the next meeting, which will be held by the end of September to address all recommendations, observations, suggestions and advices on the draft strategy and evaluation of the work of FOL.

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Prishtina, July 20, 2012 ” Today, Movement FOL held a press conference, publishing the report “Index of transparency in municipal level”, the purpose of this research was to evaluate the transparency of Kosovo Municipalities.
The Project Coordinator in Movement FOL Mexhide Demolli – Nimani, said that since this is a pilot project we have covered only four (4) municipalities: Gjakova, Podujeva, Prizren and Mitrovica. “The content of this report is based on the information gathered through a structured questionnaire, completed by each municipality during May-June 2012, and documents sent by these municipalities,” said Demolli-Nimani.

The Responsible officials for public information in Prizren have shown considerable knowledge, although not satisfactory, regarding the provisions of the Statute which aims to enforce the constitutional and legal provisions. Also in the Regulation for Transparency, the municipality has failed to explain what obligations, structures and specific resources provide it within the municipal structures. “The municipality has provided no explanation of the organizational structure of the office of information, and neither has drafted a policy document, implementation plan and annual work plan on public communication and information”, – she said, adding that ‘the press conferences’ is mentioned as the only activity in the municipality to inform the citizens of the right of access to municipal documents.

However, regarding the municipality of Mitrovica, information officers of this municipality have demonstrated satisfactory knowledge of the provisions of the Statute, since they have listed all relevant provisions of the statute regulating access to official documents and citizen participation in decision making. “The situation seems slightly better regarding implementing measures, since this municipality has listed some of them: the transparency of the meetings of the Municipal Assembly and its committees, publication of the acts of the municipality, petitions, meetings with citizens, public consultation and access in official documents.”However, regarding the resources allocated for enforcement of the activities related to public communication and information, according to Demolli-Nimani, this municipality has given ” 10,000, allocated this year to publish a monthly magazine of the Municipality and some brochures.

Meanwhile, the local coordinator of the Movement FOL in Podujeva, Granit Thaci, said that Information Officers in the municipality of Podujeva showed satisfactory knowledge about the provisions of the Statute because they have provided all the legal provisions regulating the legal liability of the municipality for public communication and information. “Separating the documents, the sensitive ones and those that are accessible to the public Podujeva municipality has not provided any additional explanation, regarding the documents that are always accessible. Also, the budget allocated to this office, they stated that they have no budget for the office separately but within the budget of the Office of the Mayor and did not mention any concrete amount, “

The Coordinator of Movement FOL for the municipality of Gjakova, Drenusha Mula said that the office staff for public information showed insufficient knowledge about the provisions of the Statute, they only referred to the Statute, but did not provide the content of the provisions of the Statute regulating the legal responsibility for public communication and information. According to Mula, the mentioned officials have cited Regulation for Transparency but did not explain what obligations, structures and specific resources within municipal structures this regulation provides. “Performance Evaluation in Gjakova municipality is conducted on semi-annual and annual basis, but it is not clear what sort of standard of internal reporting and monitoring and evaluation work can be. Meanwhile, information officers have stated that they did not perform any additional activities for public communication and information regarding the access to public documents, “

Recommendations of this report:
” As the findings of this public policy study shows, municipalities are in the initial stage of completion and implementation of legislation and local policies that allow public access to their public documents and other measures to improve their transparency and accountability to the public.
” It is recommended that municipalities should review their statutes to ensure the reflection of the obligations arising from laws and regulations within the powers and responsibilities of their offices which are responsible for public communication and information.
” It is recommended that municipalities also focus on further development of these regulations, focusing on the elimination of ambiguities and inconsistencies with the framework legislation, more precise and comprehensive definition on the issues that aim to regulate.
” It is recommended that municipalities take action in terms of human capacity building for these offices to ensure that staff responsible for public communication and information knows in details the legal provisions and policies required to implement, and improve capacities to implement them.
” Development of Organizational Structure / Organogram, Terms of References and Job Descriptions of offices responsible for public communications and information and their staff;
” Development of annual work plans of the offices responsible for public communication and information, which will contain clear objectives and detailed activities to achieve them, and
” Development of database of information on communication and cooperation with non-government actors, particularly media and civil society organizations, which would allow making a clear statement about the purpose and types of activities to communicate and cooperate with each of them.

The full report can be read in this link:
http://levizjafol.org/images/uploads/files/Transparenca_e_Komunave_2012_Raport_FINAL.pdf

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Institutional and Public Enterprises Transparency in Kosovo III Policy research: Evaluation of the transparency of Municipalities

 
Institutional and Public Enterprises Transparency in Kosovo III

Statement 1

“During our next 15 months of term government, my government will fulfill all criteria to enable the free movement of the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo visa-free throughout Europe.”
Author: Hashim Thaçi ” Prime Minister of Kosovo
Date: 10 December 2010
Source: http://www.pdk49.com

Evaluation: FALSE
Justification: This promise was given during the election campaign in 2010 by the chairman of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Mr. Hashim Thaci. However, this promise was not realized and as such, this statement is false. It”s been more than 15 months and Kosovo government has not met the criteria that would enable free movement of citizens of Kosovo to the European Union countries. European Commission on the day of delivery of the guide for visa has provided for the Government 101 criteria which must be met by the Government of Kosovo.

Statement 2

“I am convinced that the political class in Kosovo without exception has realized that the fight against organized crime and corruption will be a prerequisite for further integration processes.”
Author: Vlora Çitaku, Minister of integration
Date: 13 June 2012
Source: http://www.kohaditore.com/”page=1,13,103136

Evaluation: Contradictory
Justification: What does this statement of Minister Citaku mean” Political class was not aware before June 2012 about the importance of fighting corruption as a prerequisite for EU integration” Does this statement mean that fighting corruption and organized crime should occur only for the sake of the European Union” It is a contradictory statement and disturbing, because exposes a rather worrying situation regarding the negative role of politics in fighting corruption and organized crime.

Statement 3

“Let me say this openly that even now we can say that there is misuse at this level.”
Author: Fehmi Mujota, Minister of infrastructure
Date: 06 June 2012
Source: http://www.koha.net/”page=1,13,102504

Evaluation: Contradictory
Justification: Despite the numerous abuses in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Minister Mujota say acts like he does not have any responsibilities for such affairs in his ministry. Furthermore, it is Minister Mujota, who has qualified his friend printing driver’s license tests, without following the procedures of procurement and this is clearly a conflict of interest.

Statement 4

“EULEX is not doing anything in the fight against corruption at high levels.”
Author: EULEX, European Union Rule of Law Mission
Date: 12 June 2012
Source: http://www.eulex-kosovo.eu/al/pressreleases/0298.php

Evaluation: False
Justification: While EULEX presence in Kosovo is of great importance regarding EU-Kosovo relations, as well as the contribution of this mission continues to be important in the process of state-building and rule of law, unfortunately the results of EULEX -it are insufficient. FOL has decided to answer to the question made by EULEX, saying that this mission is not doing the fight against corruption at high levels of the state. The truth is that the spread of corruption and situation in Kosovo has not changed anything since the arrival of EULEX. A commitment of EULEX to investigate alleged cases of high level of corruption such as Central Bank, ministers, former ministers and other senior officials is seen to be non-serious and impossible for this mission. If you look at anti-corruption statistics we find out that they are the prosecutors and judges those who have done something against corruption and not EULEX. In the end, all those who have watched this campaign on billboards they have noticed that anything that EULEX is doing is characterized as “following”.

Statement 5

“The law (seizure of unlawful property) shall be issued within this half of the year and it will be applied to everyone.”
Author: Hajredin Kuçi
Data: 16 March 2012
Source: http://www.koha.net/”page=1,13,91834

Evaluation: FALSE
Justification: Mr. Kuci has made this statement on March 16, 2012. With all the many words of the Minister of Justice, Kuçi, that the law will be issued within 6 months of this year, and Civil Society recommendations will find their place in this draft law, his actions have shown just the opposite. This is due to the fact that this law is not yet approved by the Assembly of Kosovo and the recommendations of civil society are disregarded by the Ministry of Justice as part of this law.

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July 11, 2012 – Movement FOL condemns the recent assault against the journalist and publicist Halil Matoshi
Movement FOL condemns the recent assault against the journalist and publicist Matoshi Halil, who is also the member of Advisory Board of Movement FOL. Mr. Matoshi has previously been threatened because of his critical writings.
Movement FOL believes that attacks against journalists are attacks against a society, because they harm the basic fundamentals of the state of Kosovo.
FOL appeals to police to quickly identify the perpetrators and explain the circumstances of the assault.

Movement FOL has been continuing the expansion of debating program by establishing the debating club in Gjakova. On Tuesday, April 26, 2012 was held a training on Karl Popper debate format with students of high schools in the offices of youth center in Gjakova , thus establishing three teams. The teams of the debating club of Gjakova will participate in debating tournaments that will be organized in the future.

Movement FOL has re-turned the debate program in Kosovo, in 2009. The debate program is currently present in eight municipalities in Kosovo. Initially there were only three municipalities (Municipality of Prishtina, Peja and Ferizaj) involved, whereas during 2011, it was extended to three other municipalities (Municipality of Suhareka, Malisheva and Mitrovica). Extension of 2012 includes the municipality of Prizren. Except in Gjakova, FOL movement aims to expand the program in other municipalities of Kosovo as well, in order to include as many young people in the program of as debate as possible.

The debate is an exceptional opportunity for youth development and education. To achieve success in academic and school life, young people need to know how to present their ideas and how to respond to the arguments of others who disagree with their ideas. Debate in a democratic society expands students’ knowledge, tools to understand the political and social developments and to argue about issues which they believe in.

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Today, June 25, is the anniversary of the establishment of Movement FOL, a three-year work for active citizenry, against corruption. We thank our families, the membership of the organization, partners, friends, donors, and in particular the media for their cooperation and support they have provided for the organization. We express our deep gratitude for the trust and continued support we have received from the citizens of Kosovo, to increase the transparency and accountability of public institutions of Kosovo.

FOL has started working with a single computer and a staff of three people. Today, the organization employs fifteen people, and has one hundred members of the Assembly who directly govern the organization.

We believe that during these years we have contributed to civil society involvement in the process of state building and raising the debate on good governance as essential component of this process.

Values, which are the foundation of the work of Movement FOL such as: commitment to good in the public interest, accountability to the public, Commitment to law, respect for the value and dignity of individuals, political impartiality, respect for pluralism and diversity as well as transparency, integrity, and honesty, hold the organization dedicated to the mission.

We find encouragement in the principles which guide our work, which oblige us to build coalitions of common interest to assist social, economic and political processes. To be responsible, open and accountable to our membership, our supporters, partners, donors and citizens.
We work within the goals we have set to ourselves not compromising the values and orientation of the organization.

Our achievements during these three years are many: hundreds of high school students have benefited from the debate, which offers the best opportunity for young people to develop their potential, critical thinking, active participation and response. FOL has been a pioneer in opening up procurement offices for supervision and control by civil society, something that has contributed directly to reducing opportunities for misuse. We have also made citizens closer with public institutions. A one-month campaign in 2011 in collaboration with the State Chief Prosecutor, has opened this institution, reducing the institution of traditional prejudices against him. Our work has encouraged other organizations of civil society to continue to further this initiative.

With even a more increased pace we will continue our work, in regard of the mission, to defend the public interest-as the noble mission of every citizen of society.

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Prishtina, 20 June – For more than a decade the Kosovo Energy Corporation has been the focus of local and international institutions. The investments in this enterprise have been greater than in all other enterprises. For several years the Kosovo government has allocated from the budget hundreds of millions of Euros for KEK.
And, on the other hand, KEK has increased almost every year the price of electricity. In this way the citizens of Kosovo have paid for the same product through taxes, but also through their direct payments.

While, for many years this company has misused, mismanaged and devoured the public budget through some greedy leaders and managers who run this company without ever giving account for the expenditure of hundreds of millions of poor citizens contribute.
In this game of bad management was also the Energy Regulatory Office. This institution has manipulating the public opinion consistently with the increasing levels of electricity price. So, the responsibility for continued and irresponsible increase is except KEK upon ERO as well.

Data on unemployment and poverty are alarming for years. Monthly grocery of a family is around 250 Euros, while the most part of the country’s citizens who are able to work fail to have a salary at this level.
Therefore The increase of electricity price for citizens of Kosovo means a higher price of their daily lives, further impoverishment and inability to make a dignified life. In this line, FOL requires the Energy Regulatory Office, KEK and other relevant institutions to cancel this decision and to take into account the difficult socio-economic situation in Kosovo.

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Prishtina, June 15, 2012 ” Today, Movement FOL organized a debate on the topic “Draft Law for Extended Competencies on confiscation of property obtained with a criminal offense.” The purpose of this debate was to argue about its importance in fighting organized crime and corruption.

Present in the debate were member of the Assembly of Kosovo, Albulena Haxhiu from LVV and Halit Krasniqi from PDK. Also present were representatives of Civil Society, as direct contributors to the recommendations regarding this draft-law.

Haxhiu Albulena from VV supported the Civil Society regarding the recommendations for this draft-law, “The parliamentary group of LVV will not vote this draft-law if it does not include the recommendations of Civil Society” Ms. Haxhiu said.

Meanwhile, Halit Krasniqi from PDK excessively praised the work of the Ministry of Justice for the preparation of this draft law, but he said that voting in committees and the Assembly is more individual, but, according to him this project – law shouldn”t be applicable to offenses committed before the approval of this law.

Driton Selmanaj from Kosovo Democratic Institute has criticized the members of the assembly, who according to him, “the statements and commitments of the members of the Assembly of Kosovo are contrary to what they vote then ‘. Mr. Selmanaj has mentioned that there were several times that in Kosovo Assembly have been voted several laws, which previously were criticized.
The debate continued with the involvement of civil society and media, who said that they will continue to put pressure on members of the assembly, in order not to approve this draft law without its recommendations.

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Prishtina, June 12 – Last week Movement FOL held the next meeting of the Advisory Board discussing the general situation of the Organization.
At the meeting were discussed the Work and Audit Reports for 2011. Both reports were approved by the Board’s members unanimously. In the agenda of this meeting was also the expansion of the Board with a new member.

The new member who was proposed by the Director of the Movement FOL was approved by the board. The new proposed member was Astrit Gashi, a journalist by profession.

Another topic on the agenda at this meeting was the Work Strategy of Movement FOL, the strategy that ends this year. Board suggestions for the strategy were that Movement FOL should focus on more specific issues in the next strategy.

The Advisory Board members have discussed and analyzed the performance of FOL Movement during 2011 and have offered their support for accomplished activities by Movement FOL, and have offered their support for the development and advancement of the objectives of the Organization.

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FOL Newsletter (January- May 2012)

 
FOL Newsletter (January- May 2012)

Prishtina, 31 May – Organizations that consist the Advisory Forum of NGOs for Anti-Corruption Law package, have been only formally part of the Working Group of the Ministry of Justice regarding the Law on confiscation of the property illegally acquired. So far only three meetings have been held, one constitutive meeting and two seminar-type meetings, where they presented an Italian and a German experts, and no any workshop.

The only form of communication with the MJ has been the electronic way, where the NGO Forum has submitted its views on the content of the law on March 1 this year. On the other hand, MJ has promised to organize workshops in order to exchange ideas, but that never happened.

Meanwhile, according to the legislative strategy, the law in question should be submitted to the Assembly during May. Having witnessed that this deadline is violated, MJ on May 29 has sent us a second draft of the law that they call for confiscation of the property obtained by criminal offense and has asked that in two days, ie on 1 June we make our comments. This means that the MJ did not take into account our views about the law.

Now, considering that the MJ has ignored the views of civil society, it is the attitude of the Advisory Forum of NGOs consisting of ten NGOs to withdraw from the working group and any other further activity of the Government, thus, the government will not have the support of civil society.

Applied to: Ministry of Justice
Attitudes for the initial version of the Draft Law on Confiscation of the Property Obtained by Criminal offense
March 1, 2012
Dear,
Advisory Forum of NGOs for the Anti-Corruption Law package has held several consultative meetings, analyzing the content of the initial version of the Draft Law on Confiscation of the Property Obtained by Criminal offense. After analysis the forum concludes that the proposed draft law should be objected.

The main provisions that this draft law contains are regulated by the applicable legislation in Kosovo. Based on this fact, the Forum has come to these conclusions:
1. The name of the draft law should be changed, which at the same time depicts the scope and purpose of this draft law. The forum recommends that the name “property obtained by criminal act” should be changed to “property obtained illegally” (even when not related to the offense).
2. The burden of proof to prove the legality of obtained property, to fall on the suspect, not according to the assignment. By transferring the burden of proof to the suspects, it would increase the possibility of more efficient fighting organized crime and illegal property. Such experience as the Forum recommends is practiced in regional countries, like Albania, Slovenia and Bulgaria.
3. This draft law should also be applied to property obtained illegally, even before this law became applicable.
4. It is suggested the creation of specific mechanisms within the existing institutions (police, prosecution, court) in order to implement more effectively the legislation in this area.
The Advisory Forum expresses a commitment for cooperation and contribution in the working group within the Ministry of Justice, but by respecting the fundamental principles listed above. Otherwise our cooperation comes into question.

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Prishtina, 30 May “ Today Movement FOL held the debate on the topic “Problems of Contracting Authorities in the Field of Procurement”, where were presented the problems identified by FOL movement while monitoring the procurement procedures in the Ministry of Justice, Kosovo Correctional Service and the Ministry of Public Administration.
In this debate participated representatives from the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Public Administration and Kosovo Correctional Service. During the debate it was mentioned that the problems in procurement procedures start with the requesting unit, which makes technical specifications, and which in the most cases appear to be discriminatory for economic operators.

In this debate was also stated that the compilation of tender files continues to be one of the main problems, which due to the large demands and not well harmonized regarding the documents that should be brought by Economic Operators, they are reluctant to apply or in most cases fail to comply with the requirements specified by the Contracting authorities.

Procurement Manager in Kosovo Correctional Service, Sadri Emërllahu, said that “In 2012 we started to demand the minimum documentation and not to cancel the tenders for administrative matters and this has increased the number of participants of the economic operators in different tenders”.

Meanwhile, Admir Salihu of FOL Movement stressed that “Lots of irregularities that occur in the procurement area are result of numerous deficiencies of the Law on Public Procurement”. Further, he claimed that “in some cases, ministries come together and announce joint tenders, then the procurement staff should be profiled even more by the professional preparation, and to improve working conditions for procurement offices “. On this occasion FOL Movement has recommended that technical specifications should be designed more carefully and professionally, then the evaluation committee should be more competent and tender dossiers should be standardized.

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Prishtina May 17 – Today, Movement FOL held the coordination meeting with institutions on procurement. At the meeting it was discussed about the overall situation of public procurement, focusing on a range of issues and concerns dealing exactly with this field.

The main concerns that have been identified in this meeting by the participants were numerous weaknesses in procurement legislation and competition, and insufficient institutional capacity to eliminate these corrupt practices and other legal irregularities in this area.
Within the legal framework the identified weaknesses are:
” The Public Procurement Law does not specify the lowest price per unit, but only for the total price of the economic operator offering in a particular procurement activity;
” Public Procurement Law contains mainly the cheapest price, along with the most economically advantageous, as the main criterion in all procurement activities;
” Public Procurement Law does not specify sanctions for Economic Operators that perform various criminal offenses during the bidding activities;
” The lack of other laws and guidelines to better-explain various provisions in the field of public procurement for various officials in Other Contracting Authorities;
” Law on Protection of Competition disables the scope of the Competition Commission to take punitive actions (such as fines) to the EO that offer prices that distort the market in the Republic of

Kosovo, and dispel the interest of serious international companies;
Within the institutional framework the identified weaknesses are related to:
” Lack of training in the field of competition – for procurement officials and civil society monitors;
” Lack of human capacity to supervise the implementation of contracts by the Contracting Authority;
” Lack of joint meetings between the institutions responsible for public procurement;
” Non- published interpretations and monitoring by the PPRC.

Despite these issues, the participants discussed the need of private sector involvement in fighting and preventing corruption and the elimination of irregularities and legal violations in the field of public procurement. These issues, but also many others that are expected to be brought at the next meeting will be addressed in time to all relevant instances that would affect the improvement of public procurement.
At this meeting were: Public Procurement Regulatory Commission, Public Procurement Review Body, Kosovo Competition Authority and the Contracting Authority as the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Public Administration, MLGA, Municipality of Peja, etc..

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