The Weakest Link of Kosovo's Democracy - KFOS
The Weakest Link of Kosovo's Democracy - KFOS The Weakest Link of Kosovo's Democracy - KFOS
38 The Committee on Constructions and Licenses at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, according to the law on construction, is authorized to suspend and revoke licenses of economic operators when failing to meet technical criteria. According to the law, a company with suspended or revoked licenses cannot be awarded a public bid. In spite of this, companies with revoked bids have won bids of the Ministry of Transport, Post, and Telecommunications (MTPT) and of the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (MEST). In spite of clear prohibitions, these companies have been awarded bids to construct and reconstruct roads and schools. As these companies did not have the right to exercise construction activities, while the decision of the Commission on Licenses was still in power, awarding bids to them contains acts punishable by the law ranging from abuse with official duty, impingement of free competition, to potentially corruptive acts. Further, according to the law, the companies should re-apply for licenses after expiration of revocation period. When
“Preportr “contacted “Bajramaj” company from Theranda to ask about their revokes license, their representative claimed that the company’s license had never been revoked, although such decision has been made public in the website of the MTI. The representative of “Mirusha Transport” from Klina admitted the licenses revocation, but stated that the company had complained and has no information on what has happened afterwards, meaning if the decision had been annulled or not. He also confirmed the bid awarded by MTPT. Nevertheless the complaint filed by “Mirusha Transport” legally does not nullify the decision, until a new one has been taken. On the MTI’s website one cannot find a new decision related to revoked license for this company. “Preportr” has made attempts to have answers from representatives of two other companies, “Sallahu” and “Tosi” through their official numbers. However, communicating with them was impossible. Although “Preportr” has made several attempts to contact representatives of MTPT and MEST, none has accepted to meet. Ilir Kryeziu, Director of Department on Construction at MTI confirms for “Preportr” that each construction subject must be licenses by MTI. “Companies cannot exercise their activity without a license.” The Market Inspectorate is in charge of overseeing the licenses,” states Kryeziu. According to him, the Commission for Licensing Construction Subjects decided on revocations, and the list of revoked subjects, that it annulled ones, and those decisions are made public on the MTI’s webpage, and are passed on to competent bodies such as KRPP, Institute of Public Health, and APP. Kryeziu explains that the Commission for Licensing Construction Subjects does not undertake punishing measures against the companies that have violated the decision on revocation. According to him, the sole punishment measure applied by the Commission is suspension, in fact, the decision to revoke the license. On the other hand, Ilaz Duli, member of KRPP sttes that according to the law in power the economic operator cannot be contracted a new service for the period of suspended license, and that the ministries that approve such bids violate the law. Such prohibition is made possible by the current law on public procurement with Article 65 paragraph 4, paragraph 4.5, and paragraph 4.11 and Article 69. The Administrative Directive 10/2010 on “Licensing construction subjects” through article 35 paragraph 4 and article 40 paragraphs 1 and 3 prohibit awarding bids to companies with suspended licenses. According to Blerim Kelmendi, senior investigation officer at the Kosovo Agency against Corruption, awarding bids by the Procurement Departments of respective Ministries to the companies with suspended licenses could be considered as abuse of official duty by the representatives of the procurement commissions. According to the Criminal Code of Kosova, abuse with official duty is considered a criminal act against the official duty and as such is punishable criminal act. Although majority of cases in possession of the KAaA come from the procurement sector, they claim that they had had no information that bids had been issued to companies with suspended licenses. Annual reports of KAaA for 2009 and 2010 provide proofs on massive falsification of official documents that intend securing bids for certain economic operators, using at times fictional names of professional personnel and falsifying employment contracts with individual that have never been employed by those operators. 39 The Weakest Link of Kosovo’s Democracy forum 2015
- Page 1 and 2: forum The Weakest Link of Kosovo’
- Page 3: Table of Contents Introduction 5 Fr
- Page 6 and 7: 6 Forum 2015
- Page 8 and 9: 8 Constitution of Kosovo and the La
- Page 10 and 11: 10 “The aim is that, together wit
- Page 12 and 13: 9 12 The tendency to grant absolute
- Page 15 and 16: They should be tried! Hasan PrETEnI
- Page 17 and 18: Lack of Systematic Legislation for
- Page 19 and 20: 19 c) Without this legal infrastruc
- Page 21 and 22: eappointment of judges and prosecut
- Page 23 and 24: consequences Consequences of draggi
- Page 25 and 26: 25 Investigative Journalism From Pr
- Page 27 and 28: the Ministry of transport and the M
- Page 29 and 30: The graph shows that municipality o
- Page 31 and 32: Media reporting on companies close
- Page 33 and 34: invested between January 2008 and D
- Page 35 and 36: to the municipalities that have alw
- Page 37: MEST and MTPT Award Bids to compani
- Page 42 and 43: 42 A comparison between companies t
- Page 44 and 45: 44 Euros for a project of “Constr
- Page 46 and 47: 46 List of Bid- Winning Companies a
- Page 48 and 49: 48 thousand to few million Euros. A
- Page 50 and 51: 50 A rETroSPEcTIVE oF ÇoHu! ProJEc
- Page 52 and 53: 52 its regular coverage. To convey
- Page 54 and 55: 54 Corruption and Organized Crime:
- Page 56 and 57: 56 Alliance for Future of Kosova (A
- Page 59 and 60: eport on 100 Days of “Çeku” Go
- Page 61 and 62: discontent for giving the ministers
- Page 63 and 64: and the minister never held himself
- Page 65: Post and Telecom of Kosova (PTK) On
- Page 68 and 69: 68 Main violations/failures: • Co
- Page 70 and 71: 70 vate corporation and as such est
- Page 72 and 73: 72 understood due to short time and
- Page 74 and 75: *** 74 director of Kosovapress news
- Page 76 and 77: 76 Procurement review Body As of Ju
- Page 78 and 79: 78 In spite of numerous promises to
- Page 80 and 81: 80 the merits of country’s indepe
- Page 82 and 83: 82 There is a high likelihood for m
- Page 84 and 85: 84 conclusion Public health and edu
- Page 86 and 87: 86 itself. Diverse interpretations
38<br />
<strong>The</strong> Committee on Constructions and Licenses at the Ministry <strong>of</strong> Trade and Industry,<br />
according to the law on construction, is authorized to suspend and revoke licenses <strong>of</strong><br />
economic operators when failing to meet technical criteria. According to the law, a<br />
company with suspended or revoked licenses cannot be awarded a public bid. In spite<br />
<strong>of</strong> this, companies with revoked bids have won bids <strong>of</strong> the Ministry <strong>of</strong> Transport, Post,<br />
and Telecommunications (MTPT) and <strong>of</strong> the Ministry <strong>of</strong> Education, Science, and Technology<br />
(MEST).<br />
In spite <strong>of</strong> clear prohibitions, these companies have been awarded bids to construct<br />
and reconstruct roads and schools.<br />
As these companies did not have the right to exercise construction activities, while<br />
the decision <strong>of</strong> the Commission on Licenses was still in power, awarding bids to them<br />
contains acts punishable by the law ranging from abuse with <strong>of</strong>ficial duty, impingement<br />
<strong>of</strong> free competition, to potentially corruptive acts. Further, according to the law, the<br />
companies should re-apply for licenses after expiration <strong>of</strong> revocation period. When
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