NGOs are withdrawn from the working of drafting the Law on Confiscation of the property

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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