Vushtrri, 15 – 17 April 2011-Movement FOL along with BIRN, and in cooperation with organizations: Syri Vizion from Peja, Initiative for Progress (INPO) in Ferizaj, Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) in Prishtina, Youth Center in Malisheva, Youth Centre in Suhareka and CBM Mitrovica held the National Tournament debate “Karl Popper” format ” Kosovo Open 2011 ” from 15 to 17 April 2011, on the topic” Kosovo must implement a visa regime “. The format ‘Karl Popper’ of the debate aims to touch and handle the essential elements of a controversial issue. He stresses above all the development of critical thinking, tolerance and assessment of different views. This format was developed in high schools.

Movement FOL and BIRN with the support of the Soros Foundation / KFOS since January 2010 have been working with partner organizations INPO, SIV and YIHR to create debate clubs in town and to train club members in Karl Popper debate format. However, since January this year the program was extended to three new centres in Mitrovica, Malisheva and Suhareka.

Currently in Kosovo we have 6 debating clubs in 6 municipalities, and the number of the debaters is constantly growing. Meanwhile, the debate club Ferizaj city already formed teams of RAE community.

A major contribution to the organization of the Tournament “Kosovo Open 2011” was given by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Education, and Kosovo Center for Public Safety, Education and Development.

During the day Saturday (15 April) during the three rounds of debate were faced 20 teams from six municipalities of Kosovo: Prishtina, Peja ,Ferizaj, Mitrovica, Malisheva and Suhareka. Meanwhile, semi-finals and final were held on Sunday. In the semi-finals debated four teams that have collected the most points based on the number of the victories and points that have collected the speakers of the teams individually. Semi-finals of this debate were: My Initiative from Prishtina, Sokratet from Ferizaj, The Young Europeans from Peja and Epigonet from Malisheva. Meanwhile, in the final debated Sokratet and My Initiative.

Judges in this tournament were former debaters who have previously taken part in the debate “Karl Popper” format. The team of judges who judged the finals of this tournament, announced the winner of this tournament Sokratet from Ferizaj. The Four resolutions debated in this tournament were topics about international migration, where two of these resolutions were limited preparation time while on the two other resolutions the debaters had the opportunity to prepare in advance.

The first resolution was: “”Kosovo must apply the visa regime””,
The second resolution was: “All member states must ratify the UN Convention on the rights of migrant workers and their families”
The third resolution was “open society requires open borders”
The fourth resolution was “Countries of the world should enhance the protection of social and economic rights of immigrants”

The tournament was held over three days at the Kosovo Center for Public Safety, Education and Development (former Police School in Vushtrri “.

This is the second national tournament being organized in Kosovo, and two other tournaments were organized, one in Ferizaj and one in Peja.

The winning team and three best speakers of this tournament will represent Kosovo in the international contest of the debate ‘IDEA Youth Forum 2011, which this year takes place in Istanbul, Turkey in July / August 2011.

Prishtina, April 9, 2011- Recent developments in Kosovo have tested the commitment of political leaders towards the democratic character of the state as well as their dedication to facilitate and allow the democratic functioning of institutions of Kosovo.FOL Movement considers a good news election of a consensus candidate for the post of the President as required by the Constitution, although this was not a full consensus.

FOL considers a positive step the initiative for constitutional amendments but demands that the agenda of constitutional changes be articulated in a debate with citizens of Kosovo as required by the democratic character of our state.
The citizens of Kosovo should be at the centre of attention in the process of constitutional amendments and thus the process of 2008 of the Constitution cannot and should not be repeated. Such process did not allow qualitative participation of citizens in the process of writing the constitution.

The President of Kosovo should institute a group that will take over the organization of extensive consultations with citizens and civil society organization on identifying the needs for change of the country’s Constitution and this group then should develop concrete recommendations for constitutional amendments. This process must have full ownership by Kosovo nationals. The Constitutional challenges today are results of the lack of ownership by kosovars in the Constitution of the country.

Also, recent developments have drawn attention from the fight against organized crime and corruption. State Department Report on Human Rights highlights the wide extent of corruption in government, judicial and other public institutions. Rhetoric against corruption must be translated into concrete actions in this regard Kosovo Special Prosecutor’s Office, courts and other authorities are failing to provide necessary Kosovo outcome in the fight against corruption and organized crime.

Prishtina, April 5, 2011– Representatives of the Movement “FOL” have met the Minister of Public Administration Mr. Mahir Yagcilar, last Tuesday, April 5 regarding the permission of Movement FOL to monitor the procurement at this ministry. Movement FOL informed Mr. Yagcilar with the Memorandum signed with the Ministry of Justice which enables FOL to monitor the procurement at this ministry proposing that a similar memorandum could be signed with the MPA.
Minister Yagcilar has agreed in principle with the signing of the memorandum in the days ahead.

Prishtina, 05 April 2011 – Movement FOL publishes the monitoring report of procurement process. This is the first report dealing with public procurement. The findings of this report show that institutions and public enterprises in Kosovo are harming the state budget in millions of Euros due to violations of the law and regulations on procurement. This is happening because of different interests, corruption affairs and irresponsibility of officials. Even different departments risk of paying hundred thousands of euro due to the disregard of procedures and laws.

PTK is likely to pay 16 million euro due to irresponsibility – PTK, in April last year, had signed a contract for the separation of the two billing platforms for Telecom and mobile telephony VALA, worth 20 million euro to the Israeli company “Amodcs”. After signing this contract, the Government of Kosovo through the Ministry of Economy and Finance made a decision to terminate the contract. This ministry did not responded earlier, although there were eight days after the announcement of the winner of this project from PTK. Israeli company then decided to take the case to the Court of Arbitration in London seeking damages exceeding the amount of 16 million euro;

Violations of the Municipality of Prishtina – In a bid to construct a school in Hajvali, the value of which was over 900 thousand euro, had violated procurement law, respectively Article 50 which obliges the contracting authorities to specify in the tender dossier that the contract will be given to the operator with the cheapest offer or most favourable economically. Municipality of Prishtina in April 2010 had left open both possibilities. Procurement Review Body had cancelled this tender asking Procurement Office to re-evaluate and specify the criteria according the Procurement Law. The other case is constructing a school in the village Tenezhdoll. Even though two months ago they started work, Prishtina Municipality had paid the company “Plan Ing” from Prishtina in the amount of 10 thousand euro to design the constructing project of this school. Work had begun on August 4 by the company, “Rexha”, and the ceremony was presented by the Mayor of Prishtina, Isa Mustafa, while the tender was announced long after;

Ministry of Justice must pay 80 thousand euro compensation – MJ last year had signed a contract with the company “Kaqandolli” which was declared the winner in the tender for the supply of vehicles announced by this authority. The offer of this company to supply 20 vehicles had been over 200 thousand euro. Officials of this Ministry had terminated the contract justifying that this economic operator had ignored the tender specifications. This company in September last year sued the MJ in Commercial Court. The reviewing Expert of this court, in its report had concluded that the company should be paid 80 thousand euro compensation due to the unilateral termination of the contract.

Ministry of Public Administration: five-time contract – On August 13 last year the Ministry of Public Administration had awarded the tender of managing the costs of government vehicles with GPS system to the company “PBC” in consortium with “Navirec” from Estonia. This consortium was awarded one lot (part) of this tender that had to do with assembling the equipment for 2,500 of governmental vehicles, budget agencies and municipalities. The offer of this company was 187,500 euro, but according to the Anti-Corruption Agency, this value was increased five times from the moment of signing the contract, which is a violation of the procurement.

Illegal Contract of Telecommunications Regulatory Authority ” The Chairman of the Board of Directors of TRA, Ekrem Hoxha, on February 23, 2011 had taken the decision to dismiss senior procurement official, Avdi Feri , grounded that he had committed serious violations of work. This was because the procurement officer had cancelled the notice of contract award which declared winner the consortium R&T and TBS from Albania, which was declared the winner in the tender with an amount of 830 thousand euro. The tender was about the construction of the national monitoring centre the radio spectrum. This was requested by the Procurement Review Body.

PRB in 2010 has received 331 cases, in 62 cases the procurement activity has been cancelled (Re-tender), as a result of violations of the provisions of the PPL, for irregularities in the bidding dossiers or development with poor procurement procedures, in 84 cases, the PRB decided that the Contracting Authority make re-evaluation of the bids after they had made mistakes due to incorrect evaluations by the evaluation committees.

RECOMMANDATIONS

1. Movement FOL recommends that the Government of Kosovo take into account the recommendations of the European Commission that The new Public Procurement is in line with EU criteria, where the Kosovo aspires to be a member;
2. Movement FOL recommends the Agency Against Corruption that cases like those identified by FOL move forward with caution, even when there are no complaints from any party of interest for the purpose of reporting on time and avoid unnecessary losses;
3. Movement FOL recommends the State Prosecutor to initiate investigations on these cases where there are deliberate serious violations of the law;
4. Movement FOL recommend the PPO that companies listed on the blacklist, and those who have cheated during the application process for various tenders be disqualified from the opportunity to obtain any relevant tender.

Prishtina, March 29, 2011– Representatives of the Movement FOL met today the Minister of Health of the Republic of Kosovo, dr. Ferid Agani, to discuss about the possibility of increasing transparency in the procurement area in this institution.

Minister Agani has supported the project of Movement FOL to strengthen transparency of public institutions towards the citizens, the project was presented by the head of this movement, Ramadan Ilazi.

Minister Agani has offered full cooperation with civil society, considering this as an indicator of the democratization of institutions and ensured the leaders of “FOL” that MoH will provide maximum cooperation as the law allows.

During the following days, the MoH will sign a Memorandum of Cooperation with Movement “FOL”, so that the movement is allowed to monitor various processes taking place in this ministry.

Prishtina, March 25, 2011-Movement FOL today organized training for legal and information officials from 13 municipalities of Kosovo on the Law on Access to Public Documents and laws related to its implementation such as: Law on Classification of Information, law on Protection of Personal data and Law on the Ombudsman.

Law on Access to Public Documents, which has replaced the law of 2003, the Law on access to official documents, became applicable in November 1 last year. Movement FOL was a member of the working group to draft the new law that advances the right of citizens to access official information.

This training was organized within the project “Increasing the transparency of public institutions of Kosovo ‘which is supported by BTD – Balkan Trust of Democracy.

Prishtina, March 25, 2011– Today, Movement FOL, through a letter addressed to the relevant ministers, has proposed the Ministry of Public Administration, Infrastructure and the Ministry of Education and Health to signed a memorandum that would enable FOL to have access in the procurement procedures in the role of the monitor, similar memorandum as it was signed with the Ministry of Justice.

The proposed Memorandum of FOL Movement aims to enhance and develop transparency in the process of awarding public contracts, procurement and tendering procedures, aiming to prevent fraud, corruption and conflict of interest, declared Mr. Ramadan Ilazi, executive director of the Movement FOL.

FOL expects that respective ministries respond positively to its proposal because such a practice is accepted by the deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Mr. Kuçi.

Prishtina, 24 March 2011 ” Today, Movement FOL met the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice Mr. Hajredin Kuqi. At the meeting was discussed about the situation in the justice sector in our country. In this case FOL Movement signed the Memorandum of Understanding which allows FOL to have access in the Monitoring Procurement in the Ministry of Justice.

This memorandum is intended to promote and develop transparency in the process of awarding public contracts, procurement and tendering procedures in accordance with country”s legislation, aiming the prevention of fraud, corruption and conflict of interest.

Ministry of Justice will create favorable conditions for monitoring and observing the entire bidding process and will inform in time for meetings, while the Movement FOL, after monitoring and observing procedures, shall compile a written report on the flow of the process in realizing procurement, quality, regularity and legality procedures

Prishtina, March 21, 2011– Movement FOL has met the President of the Constitutional Court, Mr. Enver Hasani to discuss about increasing the cooperation between civil society and the Constitutional Court in support of the rule of law. Ilazi Ramadan, introduced Mr. Hassani with activities of Movement FOL and expressed the importance and the need for greater cooperation between the judiciary and civil society in advancing the rule of law, also considering the work of the Constitutional Court as positive which has increased the public’s confidence in the rule of law.

The President of the Constitutional Court Mr. Hassan agreed regarding the role of civil society in support of the rule of law and was open to cooperation within the civil society as law allows. At this meeting Mr. FOL movement handed over a legal analysis to Mr. Hasani regarding the selection of the President of the country in February 22, 2011.

Prishtina, 22 March 2011– We, the undersigned organizations, express our concern regarding the latest attacks of one part of the media in relation to the legitimate initiative of civil society to act in defense of the rule of law and the integrity of public institutions of Republic of Kosovo.

A document, a draft plan that was public and that was circulated for discussion among nongovernmental organizations, was qualified as an attempt for “coup”, “plot” or “rebellion” against institutions of the country, which was not at all the purpose of the respective initiative.

Misinterpretation of this initiative and attempts to present it as threatening, evil-minded and illegal undermine the democratic character of Kosovo, where Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Association are fundamental democratic rights, protected under the Constitution of the country and international conventions. The campaign of threatening and denigrating reports against organisations that were part of this initiative has harmed personal integrity and life of the people involved.

This campaign was also an effort to crush the civil reaction in the defence of public interest, classifying the forms of democratic reaction as anti-constitutional and against the law. Civil society exists and it is obliged to deal with issues of public interest, in all forms permitted under the law and which are based on universal democratic principles.

Respect of legitimate forms for expressing citizens” discontent defines a democratic state and there should be no compromise in this regard.

Signed by:

Democratic Institute of Kosovo (KDI), the Kosovar Civil Society Foundation (KCSF), FOL Movement, Eye of Vision, Balkan Policy Institute (IPOL), Womens Network of Kosovo, the Center for Policy and Advocacy (QPA), Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR), Kosovo United States Alumni, Developing Together (DT), Ec Ma Ndryshe

Prishtina, March 21, 2011– Movement FOL has met the President of the Constitutional Court, Mr. Enver Hasani to discuss about increasing the cooperation between civil society and the Constitutional Court in support of the rule of law. Ilazi Ramadan, introduced Mr. Hassani with activities of Movement FOL and expressed the importance and the need for greater cooperation between the judiciary and civil society in advancing the rule of law, also considering the work of the Constitutional Court as positive which has increased the public’s confidence in the rule of law.

The President of the Constitutional Court Mr. Hassan agreed regarding the role of civil society in support of the rule of law and was open to cooperation within the civil society as law allows. At this meeting Mr. FOL movement handed over a legal analysis to Mr. Hasani regarding the selection of the President of the country in February 22, 2011.

Prishtina March 16, 2011 ” Today Movement FOL held a press conference and presented the report on “Public Investment in Education Sector – Higher Education Sector from 2008 to 2010”.

Fidan Kalaja of Movement FOL appealed for more transparency in public investments and required a greater involvement of civil society in designing and setting priorities for the education sector.

Meanwhile, policy analyst, Armend Mazreku, has presented the findings of this report. “Despite the progress achieved during the years 2008, 2009, 2010, there are still major problems and challenges,” said Mazreku. He has requested that the education sector must be re-dimensioned, so that it should not be seen as a problem in itself, but as an opportunity for overall socio-economic, cultural and political development. “Institutions of higher education should be oriented towards the sphere of research and scientific publications, and not only in their teaching function. Then, another problem is insufficient infrastructure, lack of academic staff and small budget for education sector in general and in particular higher education. “

For further details see the executive summary presented by Mr. Mazreku:

During the period 2004-2007 have been invested 121 million euros. In 2004 around 35 million euros, in 2005 about 24 million euros, in 2006 about 27 million euros and in 2007 about 33 million euros. This investment shows a fixed position regarding the focus on enhancing the quality of the education system in general.

From 2008 until 2010 have been invested about 146 milion euros. In 2008 around 56 million euros, in 2009 about 52 million euros, whereas in 2010 has been a decrease in these investment, 37 million euros;

Public funds according to the Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2011-2013 will be around 174 million euros. For the year 2011 are planned 57 million euros, in 2012 about 55 million euros, and in 2013 it will grow to about 61 million euros;

The organizational structure of institutions of higher education is consisted of two public universities, 10 private university colleges, five professional schools and three institutes. In the context of their work are 122 public programs, 69 private, 6 from institutes and 14 from professional schools. These programs include the undergraduate level (Bachelor) and graduate level (Masters).

In 2008 in higher education were invested around 15 million euros. About 8 million euros have been spent on salaries, over 3 million for goods and services, about 1 million euros for municipal expenditures and 2.3 million on capital investments. The University of Prishtina has spent 7.3 million euros for salaries, 2.8 million euros for goods and services, 945 thousand euros for municipal expenses. The Student Centre has spent in all categories 1.1 million euros, 480 thousand euros were spent by Institutes, and 116 thousand euros by Pedagogical Institute;

During 2009 in higher education have been invested 13.6 million euros. Kosovo government has invested 8.5 million euros for salaries, 3.3 million euros for goods and services, 1.3 million for municipal expenses and over 375 thousand euros for capital investments. From these investments, the University of Prishtina has received 7.5 million euros for salaries, 3 million for goods and services and over 947 thousand euros for municipal expenses. Student Center spent 661 thousand euros on salaries, 182 thousand euros for goods and services and 337 thousand euros for capital expenses. Institutes have spent 283 thousand euros for salaries, over 103 thousand euros for goods and services and 54 thousand euros for municipal expenses;

In 2010, were planned 15 million euros for higher education. The Government of Kosovo during the year 2009 has invested 11.1 million euros for salaries, 3.3 million euros for goods and services, 1.4 million euros for municipal expenses and 2.2 million for capital investments. From these investments, the University of Pristina has received over 10 million euros for salaries, 2.9 million euros for goods and services and over 1 million for capital expenses. Student Center spent 646 thousand euros on salaries, 201 thousand euros for goods and services and 337 thousand euros for municipal expenses. Institutes have spent 321 thousand euros for salaries, over 118 thousand euros for goods and services and 40 thousand euros for municipal expenses. Pedagogical Institute has spent 73 thousand euros for salaries, 33 thousand euros for goods and services and 9 euros for municipal expenses;

The Government of Kosovo has invested 4.9 million euros in capital projects. Within these projects are the Institute of History, Construction of the Student”s Dormitory in Prishtina, renovation of the Faculty of Medicine, Construction of the Faculty of Education in Prishtina, renovation of Albanologic Institute, Building Infrastructure, etc

Prishtina, March 14, 2011– Today, the executive Director of the Movement FOL, Mr. Ramadan Ilazi, met the Director of Anti-Corruption Agency, Mr. Hasan Preteni. At this meeting they discussed about the process of declaration of the property of senior public officials, the law on declaration of property and the law on conflict of interest. Mr. Preteni stated that the process of declaration of the property by senior public officials is being carried out according to the Agency’s planning and that publication of declarations of the4 property will be by the beginning of June this year. He also stressed that ACA is doing a detailed analysis of the law on conflict of interest so that when the law is being reviewed, the agency will provide its recommendations for amendments to this law. On the other hand, Mr. Ilazi said that Movement FOL will be very active and monitor the ongoing process of declaration of the property of senior public officials and will offer cooperation to ACA and the entire society in anti-corruption fight.

I’m going to give 5 minutes break. But you should know that this is a violation of the Constitution and violation of regulation. Any change of the result is unacceptable and pressure on the assembly members”
Jakup Krasniqi, President of the Assembly, 22 February 2011

Evaluation: true

The head of Parliament Jakup Krasniqi continues to repeat its position that the break has been a violation of the Constitution and Regulation of the Assembly but on the other he hasn”t done anything else but these declarations to amend this defect.
He did not advance the claim regarding the violation of the constitution, and the reaction during the session reflected more of a personal anger with Thaci, about the way of the decision in PDK that Pacolli should be the candidate for president, despite the agreement that he was supposed to be the candidate.

“By respecting our Constitution, we are creating our new strong institutions which derive from the will of our citizens and which will protect the interests of all our citizens.”
Hashim Thaci, the newly elected Prime Minister, February 22, 2011

Evaluation: False

The break taken by the members of the assembly in the middle of voting fot the election of the president is in contradiction with the Constitution and Regulation of the Assembly. The pressure is proved by Thaci’s request to have a break and the evidences shown by media such as sms communications about the election of the President. Kosovo’s constitution guarantees non-binding mandate of the members of the assembly in Article 70, Section 1. Where it says “Members of the Asembly are representatives of the people and not subjected to any binding term. Another violation of the Constitution is casting the vote the President of Kosovo himself for the Government after his had taken the oath as President.

“Everything is within the Constitution, laws of Kosovo, tools are provided, the cost will be about 100 million euros a year”.
Hashim Thaci, deposed prime minister, 06 January 2011

Evaluation: false

Two decisions of the dismissed government, number 01/151 and 02/151 signed by the deposed Prime Minister for increasing the salaries of teachers and other categories and that were to take effect from January 1, 2011, have not yet been implemented. These decisions were not in harmony with the Constitution and laws. Another statement of Thaci tells that increased salaries will be taken retroactively after the Kosovo budget is approved.
The rise of the salaries caused a lot of troubles with the IMF and ICO. Even in a media release the dismissed government”s spokesman Memli Krasniqi stated that the salaries are being executed, and this actually is not happening. “The decision was executed (today) and tomorrow (Tuesday) the salaries will be executed with the raise according to the Prime Minister”s decision,” he said. (February 1, 2011 Koha Ditore).

Contradictory statement
“The Headquarters in Qafa, Hashim Thaci”s LDK”
Uke Rugova, LDK Ibrahim Rugova, October 28, 2010
It turned out to be the opposite, while Uke Rugova used to accuse the LDK of Isa Mustafa regarding the government with Hashim Thaci, it was him who appeared to be interested only to become part of the government no matter with whom, even if it be Hashim Thaci. His vote was crucial for Pacolli to become president, but the relationship with Hashim Thaci was not welcomed by his father”s electorate, who used to respect him because of his father.
Uke Rugova also betrayed the electorate of AAK who had voted for him, because either this electorate did not want a coalition with Thaci’s PDK. The son of the former president, however, he has made the highest political trade, exchanging his vote with a number of high positions in government.

Suhareke, March 11, 2011 – Movement FOL has organized the next debate with citizens of municipalities of Suhareka, Rahovec and Malisheva, on the topic “Public Investment in Road Infrastructure: Transparency and Accountability”. In this debate was discussed about the trend of public investment in road infrastructure by central and local governments in these three municipalities, the current status, future plans and the level of transparency and accountability of these investments.

Participants in this debate were the Mayor of Suhareka, Mayor of Rahovec, municipal assembly members (Chairman and members of Municipal Assemblies of the two municipalities), civil society, media and citizens of these municipalities.

Initially, the project coordinator Mr. Fidan Kalaja, expressed the regret for not participation in this debate the Mayor of Malisheva Mr. Isni Kilaj, members of the Municipal Assembly of Malisheva, representatives of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Ministry of Economy and the Association of Municipalities of Kosovo, considering this as a lack of will and harmful indicator in promoting transparency and accountability of institutions to the citizens of Kosovo. In addition he introduced the report “Transparency of public investment in road infrastructure.” According to him, focusing mainly on the largest infrastructure project after the war in Kosovo, Merdare-Morine highway, this report has identified some weaknesses regarding the respect for the principles of transparency, such as not informing the public about planning of this project especially for financial cost, failing to provide information about sources of funding, denial of access to project documentation without any grounded reason, and the tendency to ignore the supervision by Parliament in this process.

The debate continued with the Mayor of Suhareka, Mr. Blerim Kuci, who declared that the planning and implementation of capital projects in the municipality of Suhareka regarding the transparency is satisfactory. According to him “there were 17 debates with citizens about municipal budget, capital investment and other projects.” During the presentation of municipal investments in road infrastructure he stressed that “about 50% of municipal budget is allocated to capital investment, while over 50% of capital investment are investments in road infrastructure.” Mr. Kuci said that “the current problem in public investment is the lack of a national strategy for development of infrastructure and that these investments are still made ad hoc.” Respecting the public accountability by institutions, according to him “is still at a very low level, it can be said that this principle does not exist”.

The mayor of Rahovec, Mr. Smajl Latifi said that “transparency is the motto of Rahovec municipality, and the accountability is the moral ticket to the citizens of this municipality.” He said that after he became the mayor of the municipality in January of this year, in this municipality he had found plenty of suspicious contracts and many projects submitted only on paper but never realized. He further added that “it”s like there is a deal” between government institutions to not be transparent regarding public investment, and this is best demonstrated the lack of reports that reflect public investments carried out in central and local level.”

This activity was made possible with support of USAID through the Program for Strengthening Civil Society implemented by ISC – Institute for Sustainable Communities.

Prishtina, 09 March 2011 ” Movement FOL met a delegation of students, part of “School For International Training” from the United States of America, who are visiting Kosovo for Peace Studies and Conflict in Balkan. In this meeting was discussed about the developments and problems that the Republic of Kosovo is facing, and the fight against corruption and organized crime.

Grounded on the observations of current work by FOL Movement it was stated that corruption is a reality and is hurting the future of Kosovo on its path towards European integration. Efficient fight against corruption is only by including all factors in this process including EULEX.

Ramadan Ilazi (FOL Movement Executive Director) emphasized that the problem of corruption today is a result of the tolerance toward corruption in the past and the lack of an independent and effective judiciary.

Prishtina 8 March 2011– Within the year 2010 Kosovo Police has investigated 704 cases of corruption and organized crime. The fight against corruption and organized crime in Kosovo over the past year has continued, but without any senior officials behind the bars. Kosovo Special Prosecutor, continued investigations into two cases considered the biggest so far. Investigations for at least five offenses in the Ministry of Transport are being conducted by this prosecution. The main suspect is Fatmir Limaj, suspected of committing organized crime, official misconduct, and embezzlement during official duty, taking bribes and money laundering. The Chief of Procurement Nexhat Krasniqi is being investigated as well. Despite that it”s been a year since investigations has began, there are no charges in this case yet. The prosecution has been justified that it takes time for the case is very sensitive.

The arrest of former Kosovo Central Bank Governor Hashim Rexhepi, it is considered to be the second largest case in 2010. He was caught in the workplace, and held in custody for three months on suspicion of abusing the office or official authority, imposing influence, money laundering, tax evasion and taking bribes.

The case was entirely led by a Kosovo prosecutor, and the search was conducted by Kosovo Police as well. The suspects in this case are other officials as well, one of them still continues to work in the Central Bank.

Within the year 2010 Kosovo police investigated 704 cases of corruption and organized crime. Relating these 704 cases, 171 suspects have been arrested, 530 cases were sent to the relevant prosecutions depending on the region, 257 cases were sent to the prosecutions with special reports, and criminal charges have been filed against over 909 suspects. The value of potential damages caused by the actions of the suspects is millions.

Compared to 2009, the Kosovo Police has achieved greater success. Various economic crimes and corruption, during 2009 were 90 cases under investigation, 103 people were arrested, 325 cases were sent to the prosecution, 161 cases were sent to the prosecution with special reports, and criminal charges have been filed against 564 suspects.
But all this success of the Police in the detection and catching the suspects who are destroying the country with their illegal actions, no one knows what the investigation results of the prosecution will be.

As a result of the lack of a database Kosovo Prosecution has failed to give Movement FOL accurate data about what has happened to the cases submitted by police.

Prosecution does not have data for each year separately but in total the total number of cases of corruption that is expected to be handled by local prosecutors is over 400. This number is distributed in the Kosovo Special Prosecution, district and municipal ones as well. The good news is that, from this number, 100 cases are in the preliminary investigation phase, expected to be submitted to the Court for trial, while 300 cases are under investigation.

The European Union Rule of Law Mission, EULEX is involved in the fight against corruption as well. This mission, whose prosecutors deal with “sensitive” cases that the local prosecutors do not deal, in 2010 worked on 91 cases of corruption at the Special Prosecution and district ones.

According to the data provided by EULEX, 51 cases are being investigated by Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo, and 40 cases by District Prosecutions and the majority of cases by the District Court of Prishtina where the number of the prosecutors is the smallest.

EULEX has provided more accurate data for the cases one by one and their nature. According to these data 5 criminal cases are currently before the trial for corruption, 34 cases are expected to begin the trial, these cases are of economic crimes, 32 other cases are organized crime and which are expected to begin trial.

Criminal cases that are in the final phase of the trial for 2010 are 18 cases of corruption and 4 cases of organized crime. The number of the defendants in these cases is: 175 accused for corruption and 175 accused for organized crime.
During the 2009-2010 judicial panels led by EULEX judges, announced 14 judgment for corruption and 2 for organized crime. These judgments in most cases have been exculpatory to the defendant.

Movement FOL is not satisfied regarding with the work being performed. Despite that for such cases it is needed a general investigation, the level of corruption in Kosovo is overcoming the fight against it and consequently the successes in this fight is minor compared with the level of corruption at all levels.

Some positive steps:

Positive Step 1 – One of the positive steps that were undertaken last year to fight corruption is the establishment of “Task Force” against crime and corruption. This special unit was formed in February and led by a local prosecutor. It consists of local and international prosecutors as well as police officers.

Positive Step 2 ” The second positive step is the appointment of prosecutor Drita Hajdari, coordinator of anti-corruption prosecutors. She manages the work against corruption. But she will not make it out alone in this work.

Success 1 – The greatest success is that the raid broke the taboo of the Ministry of Transport. In the case of this raid, the prejudice that “the strong are untouchable” was broken in Kosovo.

Success 2 ” Beginning of the Trial in December 2010 of two former ministers of the Serb community and a deputy minister. Slavisha Petkovic, Branislav Gerbic former ministers and the deputy minister of ministry of health in the current government, Nemanja Vujovic, were accused on charges that they damaged the state budget more than 1 million and 100 thousand euros in fictitious construction of houses for returnees. But Prime Minister Thaci, who has propagated the fight against corruption, did not dismiss this deputy minister from the office.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Movement FOL requires increasing the number of investigators and prosecutors to deal with corruption cases. According to movement FOL, the number should be doubled. This should happen in particular in the District Court in Prishtina, which has the largest number of cases of corruption.

The prosecution continues to function with only 5 prosecutors, while only one dealing with corruption cases. Only browsing the cases sent by police shall take almost all the time of a prosecutor. Dealing with them shouldn”t even be mentioned.

Because of this, the number of prosecutors in this prosecution should be twenty (20), while the number of specialized prosecutors to pursue corruption cases should be at least five (5).

Prishtina 4 March 2011 – Last year Mr. Behgjet Pacolli asked the Anti Corruption Agency (ACA) not to make public his property. Such an action of ACA and z. Pacolli is a violation of law on the origin, control and declaration of the property of senior public officials which do not allow them not to declare their property even if they make a request. Such action by Mr. Pacolli questions his commitment to fight corruption and organized crime ” which are the main problems of the country.

Movement FOL requires President Pacolli to ask the Anti-Corruption Agency and declare his property.
Ilazi Ramadan, executive director of the Movement FOL said that in accordance with Article 15, paragraph 1 of the Law on Preventing Conflict of Interest, FOL requires the president to solve as soon as possible and in most effective ways possible, every situation of the conflict of interest. Meanwhile ACA in accordance with Article 14 must verify the property of the president Pacolli in accordance with the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest and the Law on the President.
“Current legislation does not allow public officials to manage stocks more than 20% of the value in a company, and transfer such shares to persons close to Mr. Pacolli according to section 6 of the Law on Preventing Conflict of Interest “said Ilazi.

In the case of the President of the country, Mr. Pacolli, we consider that it is unethical for him to have economic interests while exercising the highest functions in the country. Therefore, it is in the public interest that Mr. Pacolli clarifies the reports of his businesses inside and outside Kosovo. This will help in the functioning of this institution and will provide a good standard for public officials.

Pristina, 24 February 2011 – FOL Movement expresses support for media in the Republic of Kosovo recalling their extraordinary contribution to processes of democratization and state-building in Kosovo. FOL Movement highly appreciates the support of the Independent Media Commission has given the media in Kosovo for their reporting on the process of electing the President and Government.

Independent and strong media is the very spirit of a democratic country, therefore FOL movement encourages and supports the media in their work to inform citizens, and to uncover the truth based on facts as it was the case when media reported on the election of state institutions said Ramadan Ilazi, executive director of the movement FOL.

Prishtina, 25 February 2011– At the regular meeting of the Advisory Board of the Movement FOL, it has been discussed about the general situation of the organization, including the draft work report for 2010, the internal audit process conducted by organizations and attitudes regarding recent political developments in the country.

“Movement FOL is consistently implementing its three years strategy, achieving the objectives it has set for itself”, – said Petrit Zogaj during the presentation of the draft work report for 2010.
At this meeting by unanimous decision of members present Mrs. Eli Gashi, was selected Chairperson of the Advisory Board.

The Board has provided support for the current FOL activities and activities that are to be realized, including projects that are expected to begin being implemented.