The Weakest Link of Kosovo's Democracy - KFOS

54
Corruption and Organized Crime: Reflections on
Status negotiations (october 2006)
This report of the Organization for Democracy, Anti-corruption, and Dignity “ÇOHU”
argues that involvement of certain political party structures in organized crime and
corruption reduces the negotiation capabilities of the Kosovar party in the status negotiation
and representation of majority of Kosovar people’s will. As a consequence,
Kosova will be able to win “a kind of independence” which is not consistent with the
majority’s will.
The fact that frequently Kosovar politicians have been mentioned about abuse of power,
involvement in criminal acts, irregular and unprincipled favoring has made a considerable
number of them easy subject of blackmailing, which has reflected on their
positions throughout the status negotiation process.
There are many potential scenarios to the negotiations outcome, but the most likely
one is of another status quo. Due to continuous pressure to compromise in order to
achieve a negotiated agreement, Kosova may come out with a hybrid and unclear status.
Powerful pressure is being exercise to concede to decentralization in which Kosova
Serbs are likely to gain more than de-facto territorial autonomy and strong vertical
ties with Belgrade. Such scenario would exacerbate functioning of Kosova institutions
resulting in a hybrid “state”.
This report focuses on three biggest Kosovar political parties, LDK, PDK, and AAK,
since they represent the largest part of Kosovar electorate.
Politicians’ involvement in organized crime and corruption
The activity of political leaders and subjects is the first and gravest reason for political
compromises that harm Kosova’s functioning as a unit. Through such activities they
have secured support through grave legal violations, abuse of power, and frequently
with criminal acts or involvement in organized crime. The latter has rendered Kosovar
politicians powerless in effort on Kosovo status due to their vulnerability on blackmailing.
Senior officers owe to external “advisors” of political parties. Political party officials
have admitted that their parties are subject to influence of security people who
control economic interests. On September 30, the daily Lajm Ekskluzive wrote on its
addendum Lajm Plus that more than 30 bodyguards of senior political, party, and institutional
leader are involved in grave criminal acts such as murder and rape proving
the close connection of Kosovar politics to crime.
The second reason is that a good number of them strongly believe that their political
career depends on the position and support of the international factor towards own actions,
rather than the voters themselves. A special political corruption results this way
since politicians are not loyal to the political will they represent, and they become loyal
to whomever they define as “international community” and furthermore to those who
may hold something compromising in their hands. Frequently, the intervening of foreign
politicians has directly determined the decisions of Kosovar Albanian politicians.