Kosovo charges 11 party officials with political cronyism

 Kosovo prosecutors on Friday charged 11 officials of President Hashim Thaci’s ruling Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), including a minister, with political cronyism, AFP reports.

The accused “worked in co-perpetration … granting unlawful privileges and advantages” to people seeking posts in government agencies and public firms, a special prosecutor’s office statement said.

The selection of PDK members for some posts was “based on party affiliation and personal relationships,” it said.

The accused include Innovation and Entrepreneurship Minister Besim Beqaj, one former deputy minister as well as one serving and one former MP.

The affair was publicly revealed in the biggest wiretapping scandal in Kosovo, leaked in 2016 by local media.

The wider scandal dubbed ‘Pronto Affair’ involved high PDK officials, including Thaci, prime minister at the time.

The wiretaps on fixing political and public companies appointments were trawled up during an investigation by the European Union’s rule of law mission into alleged corrupt practises by senior PDK official Adem Grabovci.

In the taped phone conversations published by the media, Grabovci calls ministers and other officials, demanding that they appoint PDK members to key positions in various public agencies and companies.

On one of the leaked wiretaps Grabovci and Thaci can be heard using some words in Italian.

When Thaci received a call from Grabovci, he answered in Italian “Pronto!” prompting media to name the scandal ‘Pronto Affair.’

Last year Kosovo was 85th out of 180 countries in the corruption perceptions index of Transparency International last year.

A track record of convictions in high-level organised crime and corruption cases is key for Kosovo to obtain visa-free travel in the EU.