Opinion: Kosovo Benefits from Prudence in Times of Uncertainty March 2 - 15. 2012 Issue No. 83 www.prishtinainsight.com Price € 1 NEWS Kosovo’s Flying Lobbyist Buried Plans Final Flights Treasures Stay After Release Underground > page 3 NEWS As a major Illyrian settle- Court to Decide on ment, Ulpiana is of great cultural importance for Kosovo Mayor Jail's Albanians, as many his- Term torians believe Albanians > page 6 descend from this NEWS ancient tribe. But it was not until the Indictment against Romans arrived in the 1st Airport Director century that the town developed into a city. See Page 5 > page 7 Kosovo Mayor Earns FEATURE Serb Gangsters Hole up in South Fortune From Free Gift Africa A senior Kosovo politician has generated more than 3 million euro from an apartment block built on public land given to > page 11 him for free in unclear circumstances. 2 million euro he has since bor- euro against the value of the site sion made in 1997, when the local INSIDE PRISHTINA By Tinka Kurti rowed against the site. and has not declared the loans to assembly of Suhareka signed an Reports by the Office of the Kosovo’s Anti-Corruption Agency. agreement with a socially owned Cabbies lerim Kuci, mayor of Auditor General in 2007 and 2008 An official from Kosovo’s enterprise Banesa/Stan, from Prefer Suhareka and a former min- said the municipality appeared to Central Bank has pointed out to Prizren, to construct the founda- ister, has made more than a B have given away the land “perma- Prishtina Insight that mortgages tion and first floor of a residential Prison over Fines million euro from sales of apart- nently” and without seeking oblig- cannot be taken out against prop- building. ments in the town centre of atory consent from central govern- The company duly laid the foun- > page 19 erties that have already been sold, Suhareka and has borrowed a fur- ment to do so. dations. In 2001, after the Kosovo which was the case with all but ther 2 million euro against the It also said that the decision to conflict had ended, it submitted one of Kuci’s flats in the block value of the properties built on award Hidroterm the right to an expression of interest in con- public land. build on the land was not made when he borrowed the money. tinuing the work but the munici- Questions have been raised transparently; the tender lasted pality refused this request after Transfer of public land: Kosovo’s only English-language about the transfer of the land to just one week. which the dispute was settled in newspaper is available: Kuci’s firm, Hidroterm, his con- An investigation by Prishtina court tract with the municipality to con- Insight has also uncovered that The controversy over the town- Delivered to struct the apartment block and the Kuci has since borrowed 2 million centre site has its roots in a deci- continues page 2 Your Door Microsoft Swallows Up Millions Kosovars Fear Energy From Newsstands of Kosovo Government Funds Price Rises across Kosovo A few years ago, Macedonia forced the Kosovo Energy Corporation, KEK, has Sent To software giant Microsoft to provide announced that from April 1 electricity Your Inbox licences for its products for free. It had prices will rise by 23 per cent. threatened to use the Linux, open source, Customers and economic experts told platform in school facilities Prishtina Insight that the price increase From Other countries, states and organisa- will hit struggling families hard and ques- our partners tions have also been embracing the open tioned the rationale for the rise. news source movement for... page 6 business KEK argues that it has... page 7 see page 16 for more info is supported by: 2 March 2 - 15, 2012 news Kosovo Mayor Earns Fortune From Free Gift from page 1 municipality had also ignored pro- curement tendering procedures in Yll Kaloshi, spokesperson of the awarding the contract only six Privatization Agency of Kosovo, days after the publication of the PAK, said the municipal court tender. ruled that Banesa was owed 54,245 The reports urged the mayor in euro in compensation, a decision office at the time, Sali Asllani, to that the District Court in Prizren implement the law and seek retro- upheld. spective central level approval. An agreement was then signed But the municipality did not between the municipal assembly address this issue and has not and Banesa on compensation for since sought any opinion about the performed work. contract from the government. On December 10 that year, the Birsen Shufta, spokesperson of then mayor, Uke Bytyqi, who has the Ministry of Public since died, issued a decision that Administration, which should the land should be given over “for have approved the permit, said permanent use” for “the construc- that the “senior management of tion of a residential and commer- the Municipal Assembly of cial building”. Suhareka was responsible for the According to Local Self- implementation of the recommen- Government Regulation 2000/45, dations of the Auditor General of Article 44.2, the municipality had Kosovo”. no right to grant the land for use Kuci, now both the mayor and for longer than ten years without the owner of the site, defends the first seeking the consent of central construction contract and does not government. accept that the deal violated the Just one week later, on law. December 17, 2001, Bytyqi, on The decision to hand over the The blue house in central Sukareka, built by Blerim Kuci's firm. behalf of the municipality, and site “was taken in line with the for the construction works and we Corruption Agency in 2011 as they “The amounts and durations of Blerim Kuci, on behalf of NPN laws applicable at the time, and couldn’t demolish an investment should have been. loans offered by the bank to Hidroterm, signed a construction this was the process applied worth millions of euros,” Asllanaj Besnik Kada, spokesperson of clients vary, based on the capacity contract after the tender was throughout Kosovo,” he said. added. the Central Bank of Kosovo, said of the client to repay the loan,” awarded to his enterprise. “There are many such cases in that loans cannot be secured spokesperson Iliriana Tahiraj The land was handed over for Prizren, and around 200 in all of Undeclared loans: against properties that have noted. free on the basis that Hidroterm Kosovo,” Kuci added. already been sold to another party “But because of confidentiality would provide the municipality Asked about a similar transac- Kuci, meanwhile, has used the or parties. agreements with clients, we can- with the income from 20 per cent tion, the mayor mentioned Global, property, listed as owned by In Kuci’s case, all but one of the not disclose any information on of the new building, while a company in Prizren. Hidroterm in the official cadastral apartments in the building had the clients”. Hidroterm was to keep the other The manager of Global, Sefer Another query concerns the 80 per cent. Rexhaj, admitted that the compa- ownership of Hidroterm. In his According to an assessment by ny received 23 acres of land from declaration to the Anti- the municipal assembly in 2002, the municipality of Prizren in Corruption Agency, Kuci lists the “blue building”, as it became 2004. himself as owner of the company, known, had by then generated just But Prishtina Insight can con- which the Business Registration under 1.5 million euro in sales, of firm that this received consent which 20 per cent, 295,271 euro, from Harri Holkeri, then head of belonged to the municipality. the UN authority in Kosovo, The reports of the Office of the UNMIK, at the time the para- Auditor General, OAG, in 2007 and mount authority in Kosovo. 2008, meanwhile, noted that the Former mayor Sali Asllanaj said municipality had violated it had been too late to act on the Regulation No. 2000/45, and specif- advice of the Auditor General in ically the article which says the seeking central government municipality should not grant the approval for the transaction. use of any property for over ten “As the investments had already years “without seeking prior been carried out, there was noth- approval from central level”. ing we could do,” he said. The OAG pointed out that the “Solid materials had been used record, as collateral to obtain three loans in 2010 and 2011 from Chequered Political Past Raiffeisen Bank totalling 2 million euro lerim Kuci was a former mander, ordered Kuci to be According to a document issued commander of the Kosovo killed. by the Regional Cadastral Agency BLiberation Army, KLA, in Kuci was Minister of Interior in Suhareka, a loan of 500,000 euro Suhareka. in 2007, from the ranks of the was issued on March 25, 2010 for 36 been sold by the time the money Agency confirms. His involvement in the KLA Democratic League of Kosovo, months, and second loan of 800,000 was borrowed. But according to Article 17 of has been brought into focus by LDK, when Agim Ceku was euro was issued on May 21, 2010 for “No asset can be mortgaged Kosovo’s Law on the Prevention of the current war-crimes trial over prime minister. an undefined period – both under without ownership rights or an Conflicts of Interests, if officials the alleged abuse and murder of He was a senior LDK official the name Hidroterm. authorisation from the contract- own more than 20 per cent of cap- prisoners held at a KLA prison at until he resigned as the party’s A further 642,000 euros was bor- ing party,” Kada said.