Six persons have been arrested in Kosovo on suspicion of links to organized crime and activities that damaged the Kosovo budget and Serb families from Kosovo.
Kosovo: 6 arrested, President Thaci's uncle escapes
Six persons have been arrested in Kosovo on suspicion of links to organized crime and activities that damaged the Kosovo budget and Serb families from Kosovo.
Source: Beta, Tanjug
Close the entire text of the article here
The Kosovo Special Prosecution said that the six persons detained today will be brought before the Basic Court in Pristina.
The criminal group under investigation has been active since 2006 and is composed of citizens "of Kosovo and Serbia," said the Kosovo Prosecution, adding that the leader of the group is Azem Syla.
The damage they incurred to "Kosovo's social property" reaches EUR 30 million, a statement added, noting that the criminal activities included falsifying official documents and bribing public servants.
Beside the Kosovo budget, other damaged parties are Serb families from Kosovo whose right to land plots was "abused" by the criminal group.
"A significant portion" of the plots in question was temporarily seized by the Pristina Basic Court on April 26, "with the goal of being returned to the legal public ownership, in the first instance."
The arrests today come on suspicion of organized crime, money laundering, abuse of official position, falsifying of official documents, and giving and receiving bribes.
The statement added that several suspects are "citizens of Serbia who reside in Serbia," and that cooperation had been achieved in the case with the Belgrade-based Organized Crime Prosecution.
It added that "arrest warrants for certain suspects have not been executed, since they are either on the run or are located abroad."
Azem Syla, named as the group's leader, is the uncle of Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and a Kosovo assembly member from Thaci's party. He is currently a fugitive.
The kallxo.com website is reporting today that homes belonging to deputies from Thaci's PDK party were searched, and that authorities are looking for Syla.
The insajderi.com website is reporting that Syla has left Kosovo, while some media said he was in Durres, Albania.
According to another Pristina-based website, indeksonline.com, Syla is accused of participation in organized crime, money laundering, and abuse of office.
Also, I just read an article on Balkan Insight (I believe) which tells of an 80-year-old Kosovo Albanian man, who was listed as missing since January 1999, has showed up again in his hometown of Pec. They discovered that he'd been living in Belgrade all those years.
(ida, 2 May 2016 22:48)
Whatever Kosovo is, it is 1000 times better than a nation where the whole political class ends up convicted by the Hague as war criminals, a nation that kills its own prime minister in the middle of the day, a nation associated with genocide.
(Reader, 29 April 2016 20:11)
This article is another big yawn. It just reinforces what Serbs knew and have been saying for years - Kosovo's Albanian (ex-KLA) leadership is corrupt and immoral. The US and other NATO countries have been trying to ignore the obvious because to acknowledge it would be to admit that they made a mistake in siding with these criminals and helped put them in power. The result, as we can all see now is that black hole called Kosovo where even Albanians are trying to escape every day. Congratulations Bill & Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Wesley Clark, Angela Merkel, Tony Blair, et al, you have really made a mess. Each of these nation builders should be forced to live in Kosovo for one year. After that, my guess is that these do-gooders and those like them would stay out of the nation-building business.
(njegos, 28 April 2016 18:04)
Good job to Kosovo police and EULEX. These people damage both Albanians and Serbs with their corruption. Keep up the good work.
(Reader, 28 April 2016 15:43)
>>Thaci is like Nikolic, Vucic and Dacic.
>>To stay in power they will sell family and country.
(Avni)
1) Yes, but this is a lame excuse for all three.
2) They not just merely "will sell family and country", it's a done process.
3) The next lame excuse would to look to FYROM, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and of course Montenegro. I don't see anything different there.
4) Bulgaria is the biggest perpetrator, so be happy, you are merely #2.
5) What a mess and what a shame for the entire area. It is really embarrassing.
6) The last... all the involved monies are peanuts. We are not only corrupt (this is normal), we act like a cheap whore.
Just look at America. That whore is not a cheap (post-communist) whore, she is a de-luxe royal concubine.
(Ataman, 28 April 2016 13:50)
Another funny sentence I found about this operation:
"President Hashim Thaci hailed the operation and called on all possible witnesses to cooperate with police and prosecutors."
This guy must be a comedian. Yes, witnesses surely like to cooperate in Kosovo - until they are killed and their families are harassed by Thaci's or other mafia clan members who think they must 'defend' their glorious 'KLA freedom fighters'
(Comm. Parrisson, 28 April 2016 09:36)
"The second big lie is that ; Azem Syla is not the uncle of President Thaqi, as stated on this news report. Actually 51 persons were arrested today and not 6 . Why can't we have media report the truth, rather than report propaganda to its liking!?"
(the truth, 27 April 2016 17:42)
A good question. In other international sources, I only read that a Kosovo MP escaped during this EULEX operation, in others I read the suspected fugitive is a lawmaker of the ruling party. And I read that 6 persons were arrested, with 51 persons on the list of suspected, including the fugitive MP, who was said to be the leader of this fraud and, what a surprise, a leader of the KLA 'freedom fighters (who fought for the freedom of mafia business, obviously)
P.S: A nice sentence I read there (I think the renowned Reuters agency cannot be accused of being 'against the state of Kosovo'), I couldn't ghave said it any better:
"Efforts to investigate former fighters have often failed because clan loyalties run deep and KLA rebels are revered as heroes by Kosovo Albanians. Many entered government after the war."
So you can expect that the fugitive have been tipped off by 'someone'.
(Comm. Parrisson, 28 April 2016 09:30)
"Azem Sula, named as the group's leader, is the uncle of Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and a Kosovo assembly member from Thaci's party. He is currently a fugitive."
Far out, what a circus...this story is more about Thaci's impotence or at worst, he's turning a blind eye in allowing this fellow to remain on the loose for so long.. Even if this guy is a distant cousin, you'd think the man at the top would have enough resource and influence to find his whereabouts and make an arrest. C'mon people since 2006???
(Darko, 28 April 2016 01:22)
Every Albanian is going to have at least fifteen to twenty aunts or uncles. It's going to be pretty hard to tell who is related to who. And so also, on the other hand, the odds are pretty good that any Albanian is going to have a relative deep into organized crime of some kind.
(Paul, 27 April 2016 22:06)
@the truth
You made some very direct statements that could be easily refuted if they are not true
I would like to what are your sources ?
(Sam D, 27 April 2016 20:35)
Beside the Kosovo budget, other damaged parties are Serb families from Kosovo whose right to land plots was "abused" by the criminal group.
No,no no Serb private property was not abused. It was state property that was abused, with the help of Serbian MUP agent and 5 other K-Serb official in bed with K-Albanian criminals. No single private K-Serb citizen lost any property, So this is the big lie coming from Serb media. The second big lie is that ; Azem Syla is not the uncle of President Thaqi, as stated on this news report. Actually 51 persons were arrested today and not 6 .
Why can't we have media report the truth, rather than report propaganda to its liking!?
(the truth, 27 April 2016 17:42)
I thought Kosovo was the cradle of democracy and were serbs enjoyed rights like no other minority in the world. Kosovo will never be anything else than it already is: a haven for crime, corruption and lack of democracy. If not for the EU mission to Kosovo it would be a khalifat of the IS.
(Hank the Tank, 27 April 2016 17:19)
I thought Kosovo was the cradle of democracy and were serbs enjoyed rights like no other minority in the world. Kosovo will never be anything else than it already is: a haven for crime, corruption and lack of democracy. If not for the EU mission to Kosovo it would be a khalifat of the IS.
(Hank the Tank, 27 April 2016 17:19)
Beside the Kosovo budget, other damaged parties are Serb families from Kosovo whose right to land plots was "abused" by the criminal group.
No,no no Serb private property was not abused. It was state property that was abused, with the help of Serbian MUP agent and 5 other K-Serb official in bed with K-Albanian criminals. No single private K-Serb citizen lost any property, So this is the big lie coming from Serb media. The second big lie is that ; Azem Syla is not the uncle of President Thaqi, as stated on this news report. Actually 51 persons were arrested today and not 6 .
Why can't we have media report the truth, rather than report propaganda to its liking!?
(the truth, 27 April 2016 17:42)
Every Albanian is going to have at least fifteen to twenty aunts or uncles. It's going to be pretty hard to tell who is related to who. And so also, on the other hand, the odds are pretty good that any Albanian is going to have a relative deep into organized crime of some kind.
(Paul, 27 April 2016 22:06)
@the truth
You made some very direct statements that could be easily refuted if they are not true
I would like to what are your sources ?
(Sam D, 27 April 2016 20:35)
This article is another big yawn. It just reinforces what Serbs knew and have been saying for years - Kosovo's Albanian (ex-KLA) leadership is corrupt and immoral. The US and other NATO countries have been trying to ignore the obvious because to acknowledge it would be to admit that they made a mistake in siding with these criminals and helped put them in power. The result, as we can all see now is that black hole called Kosovo where even Albanians are trying to escape every day. Congratulations Bill & Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Wesley Clark, Angela Merkel, Tony Blair, et al, you have really made a mess. Each of these nation builders should be forced to live in Kosovo for one year. After that, my guess is that these do-gooders and those like them would stay out of the nation-building business.
(njegos, 28 April 2016 18:04)
"The second big lie is that ; Azem Syla is not the uncle of President Thaqi, as stated on this news report. Actually 51 persons were arrested today and not 6 . Why can't we have media report the truth, rather than report propaganda to its liking!?"
(the truth, 27 April 2016 17:42)
A good question. In other international sources, I only read that a Kosovo MP escaped during this EULEX operation, in others I read the suspected fugitive is a lawmaker of the ruling party. And I read that 6 persons were arrested, with 51 persons on the list of suspected, including the fugitive MP, who was said to be the leader of this fraud and, what a surprise, a leader of the KLA 'freedom fighters (who fought for the freedom of mafia business, obviously)
P.S: A nice sentence I read there (I think the renowned Reuters agency cannot be accused of being 'against the state of Kosovo'), I couldn't ghave said it any better:
"Efforts to investigate former fighters have often failed because clan loyalties run deep and KLA rebels are revered as heroes by Kosovo Albanians. Many entered government after the war."
So you can expect that the fugitive have been tipped off by 'someone'.
(Comm. Parrisson, 28 April 2016 09:30)
Another funny sentence I found about this operation:
"President Hashim Thaci hailed the operation and called on all possible witnesses to cooperate with police and prosecutors."
This guy must be a comedian. Yes, witnesses surely like to cooperate in Kosovo - until they are killed and their families are harassed by Thaci's or other mafia clan members who think they must 'defend' their glorious 'KLA freedom fighters'
(Comm. Parrisson, 28 April 2016 09:36)
"Azem Sula, named as the group's leader, is the uncle of Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and a Kosovo assembly member from Thaci's party. He is currently a fugitive."
Far out, what a circus...this story is more about Thaci's impotence or at worst, he's turning a blind eye in allowing this fellow to remain on the loose for so long.. Even if this guy is a distant cousin, you'd think the man at the top would have enough resource and influence to find his whereabouts and make an arrest. C'mon people since 2006???
(Darko, 28 April 2016 01:22)
Good job to Kosovo police and EULEX. These people damage both Albanians and Serbs with their corruption. Keep up the good work.
(Reader, 28 April 2016 15:43)
>>Thaci is like Nikolic, Vucic and Dacic.
>>To stay in power they will sell family and country.
(Avni)
1) Yes, but this is a lame excuse for all three.
2) They not just merely "will sell family and country", it's a done process.
3) The next lame excuse would to look to FYROM, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and of course Montenegro. I don't see anything different there.
4) Bulgaria is the biggest perpetrator, so be happy, you are merely #2.
5) What a mess and what a shame for the entire area. It is really embarrassing.
6) The last... all the involved monies are peanuts. We are not only corrupt (this is normal), we act like a cheap whore.
Just look at America. That whore is not a cheap (post-communist) whore, she is a de-luxe royal concubine.
(Ataman, 28 April 2016 13:50)
Whatever Kosovo is, it is 1000 times better than a nation where the whole political class ends up convicted by the Hague as war criminals, a nation that kills its own prime minister in the middle of the day, a nation associated with genocide.
(Reader, 29 April 2016 20:11)
Also, I just read an article on Balkan Insight (I believe) which tells of an 80-year-old Kosovo Albanian man, who was listed as missing since January 1999, has showed up again in his hometown of Pec. They discovered that he'd been living in Belgrade all those years.
(ida, 2 May 2016 22:48)
Beside the Kosovo budget, other damaged parties are Serb families from Kosovo whose right to land plots was "abused" by the criminal group.
No,no no Serb private property was not abused. It was state property that was abused, with the help of Serbian MUP agent and 5 other K-Serb official in bed with K-Albanian criminals. No single private K-Serb citizen lost any property, So this is the big lie coming from Serb media. The second big lie is that ; Azem Syla is not the uncle of President Thaqi, as stated on this news report. Actually 51 persons were arrested today and not 6 .
Why can't we have media report the truth, rather than report propaganda to its liking!?
(the truth, 27 April 2016 17:42)
Every Albanian is going to have at least fifteen to twenty aunts or uncles. It's going to be pretty hard to tell who is related to who. And so also, on the other hand, the odds are pretty good that any Albanian is going to have a relative deep into organized crime of some kind.
(Paul, 27 April 2016 22:06)
I thought Kosovo was the cradle of democracy and were serbs enjoyed rights like no other minority in the world. Kosovo will never be anything else than it already is: a haven for crime, corruption and lack of democracy. If not for the EU mission to Kosovo it would be a khalifat of the IS.
(Hank the Tank, 27 April 2016 17:19)
@the truth
You made some very direct statements that could be easily refuted if they are not true
I would like to what are your sources ?
(Sam D, 27 April 2016 20:35)
Whatever Kosovo is, it is 1000 times better than a nation where the whole political class ends up convicted by the Hague as war criminals, a nation that kills its own prime minister in the middle of the day, a nation associated with genocide.
(Reader, 29 April 2016 20:11)
This article is another big yawn. It just reinforces what Serbs knew and have been saying for years - Kosovo's Albanian (ex-KLA) leadership is corrupt and immoral. The US and other NATO countries have been trying to ignore the obvious because to acknowledge it would be to admit that they made a mistake in siding with these criminals and helped put them in power. The result, as we can all see now is that black hole called Kosovo where even Albanians are trying to escape every day. Congratulations Bill & Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Wesley Clark, Angela Merkel, Tony Blair, et al, you have really made a mess. Each of these nation builders should be forced to live in Kosovo for one year. After that, my guess is that these do-gooders and those like them would stay out of the nation-building business.
(njegos, 28 April 2016 18:04)
>>Thaci is like Nikolic, Vucic and Dacic.
>>To stay in power they will sell family and country.
(Avni)
1) Yes, but this is a lame excuse for all three.
2) They not just merely "will sell family and country", it's a done process.
3) The next lame excuse would to look to FYROM, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and of course Montenegro. I don't see anything different there.
4) Bulgaria is the biggest perpetrator, so be happy, you are merely #2.
5) What a mess and what a shame for the entire area. It is really embarrassing.
6) The last... all the involved monies are peanuts. We are not only corrupt (this is normal), we act like a cheap whore.
Just look at America. That whore is not a cheap (post-communist) whore, she is a de-luxe royal concubine.
(Ataman, 28 April 2016 13:50)
Another funny sentence I found about this operation:
"President Hashim Thaci hailed the operation and called on all possible witnesses to cooperate with police and prosecutors."
This guy must be a comedian. Yes, witnesses surely like to cooperate in Kosovo - until they are killed and their families are harassed by Thaci's or other mafia clan members who think they must 'defend' their glorious 'KLA freedom fighters'
(Comm. Parrisson, 28 April 2016 09:36)
"The second big lie is that ; Azem Syla is not the uncle of President Thaqi, as stated on this news report. Actually 51 persons were arrested today and not 6 . Why can't we have media report the truth, rather than report propaganda to its liking!?"
(the truth, 27 April 2016 17:42)
A good question. In other international sources, I only read that a Kosovo MP escaped during this EULEX operation, in others I read the suspected fugitive is a lawmaker of the ruling party. And I read that 6 persons were arrested, with 51 persons on the list of suspected, including the fugitive MP, who was said to be the leader of this fraud and, what a surprise, a leader of the KLA 'freedom fighters (who fought for the freedom of mafia business, obviously)
P.S: A nice sentence I read there (I think the renowned Reuters agency cannot be accused of being 'against the state of Kosovo'), I couldn't ghave said it any better:
"Efforts to investigate former fighters have often failed because clan loyalties run deep and KLA rebels are revered as heroes by Kosovo Albanians. Many entered government after the war."
So you can expect that the fugitive have been tipped off by 'someone'.
(Comm. Parrisson, 28 April 2016 09:30)
"Azem Sula, named as the group's leader, is the uncle of Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and a Kosovo assembly member from Thaci's party. He is currently a fugitive."
Far out, what a circus...this story is more about Thaci's impotence or at worst, he's turning a blind eye in allowing this fellow to remain on the loose for so long.. Even if this guy is a distant cousin, you'd think the man at the top would have enough resource and influence to find his whereabouts and make an arrest. C'mon people since 2006???
(Darko, 28 April 2016 01:22)
Also, I just read an article on Balkan Insight (I believe) which tells of an 80-year-old Kosovo Albanian man, who was listed as missing since January 1999, has showed up again in his hometown of Pec. They discovered that he'd been living in Belgrade all those years.
(ida, 2 May 2016 22:48)
Good job to Kosovo police and EULEX. These people damage both Albanians and Serbs with their corruption. Keep up the good work.
(Reader, 28 April 2016 15:43)