Kosovo’s ruling and opposition parties are split over the arrest of energy corporation head Nagip Krasniqi.
Krasniqi, director of the Kosovo Energy Corporation (KEK) was arrested on Wednesday under suspicion of misuse of his position or official authority, exercise of influence and conflict of interest.
Members of Kosovo’s ruling party have described the arrest of energy corporation head Krasniqi as “revenge” by the acting Chief State Prosecutor. Opposition parties, on the other hand, have described Krasniqi’s arrest as proof of government abuse in the energy sector.
Kosovo’s Prosecutorial Council on Thursday said that “some senior state officials are trying to systematically influence the affairs of the prosecutorial system and are conveying tendentious political messages…using derogatory language against the…candidate for Chief State Prosecutor, Blerim Isufaj, which is against all ethical, legal and constitutional norms.”
Krasniqi’s lawyer, Taulant Ferizi, told reporters that the raid on his client’s house was in contravention of legal procedures due to the fact there was no written order, only a verbal one.
Ferizi said suspicions cast against his client are “are related to two contracts in the procurement sector concluded between the KEK and economic operators.”
MPs of Kosovo’s ruling Vetevendosje party say the arrest comes as a form of revenge by Acting Chief State Prosecutor Blerim Isufaj. Isufaj does not have the support of Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, PM Albin Kurti and Parliament Speaker Glauk Konjufca to be made Chief State Prosecutor.
Isufaj was made Head Prosecutor by a vote in April 202, and his file is waiting on the President’s decree.
“Is he taking revenge for not being able to become Chief Prosecutor?” MP Artan Abrashi wrote on Facebook.
MP Arber Rexhaj added, “Yet, you [Isufaj] want to become the Chief Prosecutor at any cost and at any price?! He has great embarrassment somewhere and not even a little support from anyone.”
Opposition parties appear to view the issue from another perspective, arguing that the arrest of Krasniqi shows that the ruling party has abused the energy sector during its time in power.
The head of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Memli Krasniqi said the arrest of the “former head of the Committee for Energy in the Vetevendosje Movement, Nagip Krasniqi, is the best proof of what we have been saying for months- that the Kurti government has committed the biggest abuses precisely in the energy sector, through corrupt schemes and misuse of the absolute power that they have installed in this sector.”
Image via Pixabay
