KOSOVO ALBANIAN POLITICIANS REFUSE TO REVEAL SOURCES OF WEALTH - SERBIAN WEBSITE
BBC Monitoring International Reports - October 18, 2007 Thursday

Excerpt from report in English by Belgrade-based Radio B92 text website on 17 October

Pristina, 17 October: The richest candidate in the Kosovo elections will be the New Kosovo Alliance chairman Bexhet Pacolli.

He has declared property worth 420m euros in Kosovo alone to the Central Electoral Commission. Of all the party leaders, Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu is last with 250,000 euros. The politicians generally put their wealth down to presents from wealthy associates, director of the NGO COHI Avni Zogiani has told B92.

In Kosovo, it is common for politicians to live in houses costing 5m euros, says Zogiani. The director of the NGO which deals with the study of corruption told B92 that the organization had been trying for some time to uncover the source of Kosovo politicians' money.

"A year and a half ago, the Kosovo Anti-Corruption Agency was formed. We are applying pressure, but we always get the same answer. They claim that by law they are not permitted to reveal information concerning the sources of their wealth.

"We disagree. There is not a single sentence in the law which prohibits them from doing so. On the contrary, there is a Law on Information of Public Importance, which explicitly stipulates that independent agencies are obliged to publish information of public interest," he says.

Zogiani said that the agency controlled politicians, "who, at the same time, are corrupt and involved in organized crime". He added that "when we ask politicians about where they acquired such riches, they usually reply that they received it from old friends, or that supporters built their houses for free. However, everyone knows that the authorities are corrupt, that politics is linked to organized crime." "Everyone knows that their money comes from crime, or from directly manipulating state funds. Because of the current situation, Kosovo's unresolved status, it is hard to determine the origin of certain people's wealth." [Passage omitted: more on the same]

Other than Pacolli and Sejdiu, the remaining candidates have also declared their property. ORA Reform Party leader Veton Surroi declared property totalling 2.5m euros. Prior to the 2004 elections, he had declared 40m euros [worth of property], while it is known that in the meantime he has transferred ownership over his Koha Ditore company to his sister. The Hague indictee and Alliance for the Future of Kosovo [AAK] party leader Ramush Haradinaj declared 1.3m euros worth of property, while Democratic League of Dardania leader Nexhat Daci and Democratic Party of Kosovo [PDK] leader Hashim Thaci are worth 300,000 euros each.

Kosovo politicians are not legally bound to declare the source of their property. However, some things are widely known. Kosovo's richest politician, Pacolli, is the equivalent of [Serbian businessmen who acquired their wealth abroad] Bogoljub Karic or Milan Panic, Vreme weekly correspondent Dejan Anastasijevic has told B92.

Source: Radio B92 text website, Belgrade, in English 1453 gmt 17 Oct 07
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