Opinion: Ethnic Coalition Will Deepen Macedonia’s Divide March 29 - April 11, 2013 Issue No. 108 www.prishtinainsight.com Price € 1 NEWS Ire Over Dacic and Thaci Closing Deal on War Rape North Kosovo Comments > page 2 NEWS Some 50 people Official Gazette protested outside Kosovo’s parliament Director’s Political against “degrading Post Breaks Law language” used by > page 4 lawmakers in a NEWS debate about wartime Kosovo Villager rape victims that Recalls Deadly Serb sparked heated Paramilitary Assault controversy. > page 6 See Page 7 NEIGHBOURHOOD Fojnica - Where Body and Soul PDK Keeps Donations a Secret Coincide If Hashim Thaci’s party flagrantly flouts the country’s law on financing, it is far from alone in doing so. > page 12-13 By Njomza Salihi contribution registry to find out the Leon Malazogu, director of 2012, the company won a tender for CULTURE source of the remaining 24,947 Democracy for Development, a 80,000 euro for road maintenance in euro. think tank in Prishtina, said the Gjilan, a PDK-governed municipali- City Threatens he ruling Democratic Party The newspaper attempted to con- PDK’s financial reporting is sus- ty. of Kosovo, PDK, claims it tract multiple party officials, pect. The Procurement Review Body Mosque Treceived just 29,947 euro in including Prime Minister Hashim “The PDK spends more money canceled the contract after a com- contributions in 2012 - and won’t Over Shops Thaci and finance officer Fexhrije than it has, and the suspicion is that peting firm complained that reveal where most of that money Luta, who did not respond. it gets some of its funds through Magjistralja hadn’t paid all the came from. Plan The money represents a minute public contracts,” Malazogu said. The PDK only accounted for taxes it owed the municipally. 5,000 euro in its annual financial portion of the 1,187,265 euro that The 5,000 euro that the PDK did However, the company went on to > page 19 declaration to the Central Election the PDK reported receiving in 2012. declare came from Gjilan-based win an 8,000 road-maintenance con- Commission. Most of that money came through road builder, Magjistralja, but the tract from Gjilan in December. The party’s failure to disclose public financing, which every party party didn’t supply a date for the Magjistralja is also mentioned in the other 24,947 euro in theory in parliament is entitled to receive. donation, the personal ID of the the corruption indictment against should result in a fine three times Based on the figures that the PDK donor or a complete address, all of former Transport and Kosovo’s only English-language that amount, according to the 2010 reported on its bank accounts, the which the Law on Financing of Telecommunications Minister newspaper is available: Law on Financing Political Parties. largest party in the country spent Political Parties require. Fatmir Limaj, who also was a PDK The party refused Prishtina about 875,000 euro in 2012 - roughly Magjistralja has also benefited leader. Delivered to Insight’s requests for access to its 2,400 euro per day. from public contracts. In October continues page 2 Your Door Serbia Eyes Germany With Partisans Set to Lose Their From Newsstands Fear and Hope Memorial across Kosovo Despite warmer relations between A monument in Prishtina to Partisans Sent To Belgrade and Berlin, experts are still con- who fought in World War Two faces demoli- Your Inbox cerned whether Germany will support the tion as a new memorial complex arises to opening of Serbian-EU accession talks. Kosovo’s first president, Ibrahim Rugova. The monument, a platform supporting a From Analysts are especially doubtful about our partners whether Belgrade can count on Berlin as metal globe surrounded by several con- Germany heads towards ... crete shells, situated in the ... analysis page 11 news page 14 see page 16 for more info is supported by: 2 March 29 - April 11, 2013 news PDK Keeps Donations a Secret from page 1 tract with the government, and fears to lose it,” Malazogu said. A prosecutor from the EU rule-of-law mis- sion, EULEX, has accused Limaj and others LDK: of fixing public contracts in exchange for bribes. The indict states that some contracts The opposition Democratic League of that Magjistralja won during Limaj’s tenure Kosovo, the second largest party in parlia- were suspicious. ment, claimed it received 1,090 euro in con- Magjistralja did not respond to Prishtina tributions out of 904,511 of inflows in 2012. Insight’s request to comment on the nature of The money came from parliamentary cau- its contribution to the PDK. cus leader Ismet Beqiri and finance officer Lutfi Zharku. Other parties no better: The LDK’s declarations also suggest it spent very little money in 2012 - about Lack of financial transparency is not 220,000 euro. It reported having 564,397 euro unique to the PDK. With the exception of in the bank, the most of any party in the There are more questions than answers in the financial disclosure report of Hashim Thaci’s PDK. the opposition Self-Determination move- country. ment, Kosovo’s major parties denied Zharku declined to discuss LDK’s contri- They include four people with the surname not for the 2012 reports. Prishtina Insight’s requests to see their butions or release any financial statements Pacolli. “Our office is obliged to double check [the financial inflows. to Prishtina Insight. The AKR, which is part of the PDK’s rul- declarations], but we haven’t done so due to On paper, the parties obtain the bulk of ing coalition, rejected Prishtina Insight’s the lack of staff,” Miradije Mavriqi, head of their financing from the sate budget. Most of AAK: request to see its money inflows. the Office for the Registration of Political the funding is awarded proportionally to the Parties, said. number of seats that each party has in par- The opposition Alliance for the Future of Self-Determination: Mavriqi also said she was unsure whether liament. Kosovo, led by former Prime Minister and any parties had been fined this year for filing But it is suspected that much party financ- acquitted Hague defendant Ramush The opposition Self-Determination move- incomplete reports. ing happens off the books. Reports from the Haradinaj, claimed it received 2,000 in con- ment declared the most contributions, both The Office of the Auditor General, report- Office of the Auditor General and from the tributions from a single company out of in number and value. It raised 100,855 euro ing on the Central Election Commission’s European Commission have complained of a 397,899 euro in total inflows. out of a total of 621,315 in inflows last year. activities, noted that most political parties sub- lack of financial transparency, and some- Prompt Prishtina contributed 1,000 twice, Most contributions came from individu- mitted incomplete financial disclosures in times of illegal funding, of parties. on December 26 and 28. In January 2012, the als. MPs and party members also donated, 2011. Kosovo’s Central Election Commission sel- company won a tender for 160,000 euro from including leader Albin Kurti, who gave 2,000 “The financial reporting of political sub- dom audits parties to check their declara- the Post and Telecom of Kosovo, PTK. euro. jects is not at an adequate level,” the report tions. Asked for more information about the Some notable businesses donated as well, stated. Ardian Gjini, an MP from of the Alliance contributions, Valon Tolaj, who handles including Askfoods, Ben Af and Drini The report also concluded that, “over the for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, told finances for AAK, offered the same report Company. years, political parties have received money in Prishtina Insight that political parties strug- that it sent the Central Election Self-Determination also allowed contradiction to the law on financing of politi- gle to keep track of their own finances. Commission. Prishtina Insight access to its internal cal parties and the election regulations”. “I assure you that they themselves don’t financial records, which were consistent The European Commission’s feasibility know where the money is coming from,” AKR: with the reports it submitted to the Central study for Kosovo, released in 2012, also criti- Gjini said. Election Commission. cised the state of party financing. Malazogu said that opposition parties are The New Kosovo Alliance, led by wealthy It noted a lack of transparency as well as reluctant to provide full financial disclosure deputy prime minister Behxhet Pacolli, Reports not checked: flaws in the law on Financing of Political in order to protect their donors. reported receiving 38,320 in contributions Parties. “They don’t dare make them public out of 240,471 euro in inflows. The Central Election Commission is The report suggested that outlawing dona- because there could be a donor who gives Most of its reported donations - primarily obliged to check political parties’ financial tions from people or companies who provide money to the opposition but who has a con- 1,000 euro apiece - came from individuals. declarations. But it has only done so once, and services to the government. Dacic and Thaci Closing Deal on North Kosovo Kosovo and Serbia leaders have already reached a substantive agreement on the future Association of Serbian Municipalities in Kosovo and will announce the outcome on April 2, an EU diplomat told Prishtina Insight. structures in the north, and with Serbian demands for broad autonomy to be offered to all Serb-populated areas in Kosovo. By Bojana Barlovac Since the end of the Kosovo conflict in the late 1990s, the north of Kosovo has been beyond the Kosovo government's control rime Ministers Hashim while Serbia has continued to Thaci and Ivica Dacic will finance local security, judicial, Pannounce a deal on forming health and educational institu- an Association of Serbian tions.