Kosovo Detains Agriculture Agency Officials Suspected of Bribery, Theft

Kosovo police officer stands at the entrance of the Agency for Development of Agriculture on a raid on February 24, 2021. Photo: BIRN

Confirming the arrests, Chief Prosecutor Aleksander Lumezi said that 10 of them are officials and two are ordinary citizens.

"Collection of information for this case started in January. After obtaining the evidence, we received the order for raids in several locations," Lumezi said.

The dragnet operation was also conducted in the municipalities of Peje/Pec, Gjilan/Gnjilane, Istog/Istok and Lipjan/Lipljane.

Beside the arrests, police confirmed that they had seized around 400,000 euros in cash, several cars, computers and laptops.

"The cash was found in the homes of the suspects and it is suspected that it was received as bribes," the head of the police's Department for Economic Crimes, Nazim Sahiti, told the media.

BIRN has learned that the money was found in two separate bags, one in the toilet of a house of one of suspects and another in the courtyard of another suspect.

Caretaker Minister of Agriculture Besian Mustafa on Wednesday declined to give more details on the case while the operation is ongoing, but supported the operation.

"Such operations should be experienced as good days, when things get clarified and justice does its job. I call on the Prosecution and Police to take this case to the end," Mustafa said.

In its annual "Progress Report" on Kosovo, in 2020, the European Commission concluded that "corruption is widespread and remains an issue of serious concern" in the country.

"There is a need for strong political will to effectively address corruption issues, as well as a robust criminal justice response to high-level corruption," the report added.

The...