UNMIK/FR/009/01
FEATURE RELEASE - 19 January, 2001
Law and
order
The Germia Standoff: UNMIK Acts in Public Interest
An important element of UNMIK's Mission in Kosovo is its
responsibility for restoring law and order, in ensuring the legal order is
upheld, including commercial laws which safeguard public property. Over many
weeks UNMIK has been involved in a tussle with the self-proclaimed management
of the Germia complex, a management possibly fronted by 110
worker-"investors," claiming to be former employees and asserting
Germia as theirs.
On January 16 the confrontation culminated in a final meeting between the DSRSG
Mr. Tom Koenigs and the self-appointed management. At the meeting Mr. Koenigs
announced that UNMIK plans to appoint an international administrator by January
23 to oversee the complex. "This is an interim administrative measure and
doesn't impinge on the property issue itself," Mr. Koenigs said. The DSRSG
emphasized UNMIK was not taking over occupied property but empty space, and had
no commercial interest in the complex.
He made three points. 1. The premises would be converted for use by Joint
Interim Administrative Structure (JIAS) departments -- the nucleus of the
future Kosovar administration -- which will employ several hundred Kosovars. 2.
Those already running legal businesses in other parts of the building --
including a furniture shop, a restaurant, and a tyre shop, for example, - would
not be disrupted. 3. UNMIK would sign a contract with these legal
businesses and the rent would be placed in an escrow account ensuring full
accountability. The monies would be used to maintain the building and to
reimburse approved refurbishments. (Mr. Koenigs said Germia's management had
failed to disclose how the rents it had collected from the shops had been
spent.)
How did this self-proclaimed management begin the takeover of the complex?
After registering as a business last June, in August the management decided to
renovate the building providing the tender to a local company,
"Ellkos." On 12 October Pristina municipality asked Germia for
documents pertaining to its status. Examination of relevant documents by
Pristina Municipality confirmed that the contract with "Ellkos" had
not been authorized by UNMIK, which is responsible for administering all
ex-Yugoslav state and socially-owned property (UNMIK Regulation 54 dated 27
September 2000).
Although the workers have claimed that Germia, as socially-owned property, is
theirs, they are unable to substantiate their claim. Germia, Pristina's only
large department store, had in fact ceased its operations before the war.
And in the years prior to its closure, not only did the company's directorate
change hands several times, but the employees were dismissed and replaced by
other workers. Therefore on this count alone legal uncertainty exists
over the legitimate owner and over the current workers' claims - an uncertainty
that can only be resolved by the courts.
Germia's self-proclaimed management claims each of the 110 workers invested in
the renovation -- costing slightly under DM1 million -- of the huge floor
space. But documents it submitted on this count to UNMIK consist only of
reports - no invoices were supplied, therefore Germia management is failing to
prove that the workers made such investments. The risk to public interest is
that a possibility exists that the employees are a front for several investors
making a sleighted attempt to privatize Germia for their own benefit. Nor could
Germia's management prove that the persons declared as workers are de jure
employees. And because of a lack of sufficient documentation the management
failed to prove its own legitimacy. According to an UNMIK official: "The
ownership questions aside, the argument that those currently in charge have a
claim to property cannot be demonstrated."
From August to December Pristina Municipality sent the management several
letters, which remained unanswered. After Germia refused to stop
renovation work on 9 December UNMIK Police posted a notice on the entrance
asserting UNMIK's right to administer state property. In this particular
case UNMIK was preempting the threat of an illegal takeover in the public
interest. The UNMIK Police installed barbed wire around the building and posted
its men nearby. At the end of December Germia employees began protesting daily
outside the complex. The standoff continued into January.
If UNMIK had failed to take over the complex it could have faced liability
claims. At the 16 January meeting Mr. Koenigs explained that UNMIK in the
future could face serious criticism and be asked to pay damages. For
example, in a few years another group of workers with a claim over Germia might
come forward and accuse UNMIK of failing to protect public property.
For a selection of photographs, please contact Mr. Ky Chung at 038 504-604 ext. 5467
Contact: A. George
(038) 504 604 Ext. 5471
E-mail:george@un.org
Law and order