UNMIK ON AIR

Guardia Di Finanza

26 Feb 2003

CUT 1 : We have found official corruption in a number of institutions. The most dramatic is the cadastre here in Prishtina where up to 80 percent of property transfers look like they were illegitimate in one way or another. There are reports and suspicion that the same kind of activity is going on in other organizations. Some of the publicly funded, some of them completely private.

UNMIK police spokesman, Barry Fletcher, speaking on the staggering size of the corruption problem in Kosovar institutions.

Hello and welcome to UNMIK on Air.

Though there have been some arrests, the problem with fighting corruption is getting evidence. There is seldom enough evidence to start an investigation, and finding witnesses to come forward to testify against corrupt officials is notoriously difficult.

According to many local analysts and politicians corruption is rife throughout Kosovar society. And it isn’t a new phenomenon.

For an entire decade most kosovars were kept outside institutions. They had to learn how to bribe, or “do favors” to people, in order to get the simplest of documents issued in the municipality, to get a decent doctor’s check at the hospital, or even a death certificate. And, according to the leader of the AAK, Ramush Haradinaj, that reflex still functions. So, in order to fight corruption, people should be educated not to accept it:

CUT 2 : This is a very difficult process, it isn’t easy, it cannot be done th an administrative order, or a “zero tolerance”. But it can be done with a long-term project that starts with legal bases that favor life and a normal way of working, that will go through educating people, not just the children in the schools but, the grown ups, explaining to them about the damages they do to their own lives in case of accepting irregular forms of achieving their goals all the way to disciplinary measures or the readiness of the institutions to remain untouched, not to get corrupted.

Still, there are many stories about large amounts of money that have been misused by various officials, local and international. To deal with the problem a special unit of Italian Guardia di Finanza has been brought to Kosovo to investigate possible corruption cases in companies that are entitled to receive funds from the Kosovo Consolidated Budget.

And these are special finance police who mean business. The Guardia di Finanza has been chasing financial crooks since 1774. Many work undercover to catch some of the highest-level Mafia in Italy… even the officer we interviewed didn’t want to give his name.

But he told us that so far, working in Kosovo seems to be business as usual.

CUT 3 : We can say that according to our statutory law our main tasks are the detection, the prevention and the reporting of financial violations and fiscal evasions as well as the enforcement of all provisions which have a political and economic impact on the state, on the country.

And the damage that corruption causes to the society as a whole is enormous. With very low wages, high prices, and unemployment rates as they are, Kosovo cannot afford to loose one single Euro that should be in its budget, says UNMIK police spokesman, Barry Fletcher:

CUT 4 : All of these activities that we are talking about in terms of organized crime and official corruption they suck money out of the society. So hospitals do not have supplies, schools do not have books, teachers are paid a pittance when the youth is the most important part of this society – they are the future. Also, in addition to stealing the money they are preventing the recognition of Kosovo as a place to invest .

So, how can GDF help in fighting this issue? For starters they will investigate companies, or individuals, who may be corrupt. The GDF spokesman admits that the task may not be easy but adds that they will do their best to bring those responsible to justice, no matter who they are:

CUT 5 : According to the agreement that is already in force we have these specific powers so we can enter a company with, of course, specific authorization issued by the administrative bodies of UNMIK and we can ask for documents and whatever we are looking for, for problems. So, we have been granted typical police powers. We’ll do what we can and we’ll follow all the clues that we’ll find so this means that it doesn’t matter who are we going to have to investigate

But still, GDF can only function on the basis of the information they receive. Something AAK leader Ramush Haradinaj believes may only come when people realize just how much corruption is costing them.

CUT 6 : And the citizen has to understand how much can he gain, what are the advantages of a normal state, of a democratic order of a society that functions on the basis of law- which does not favor other forms . We will try and do that in Kosovo since we think that, right now, we need it very much.

Meanwhile, though, the Italian Finance police will be on the streets, tracking down corruption. That’s all for today…