In Monday's hearing in the case known as the "3% Fund", according to the instructions of the Court of Appeal, a new financial super-expertise was appointed by the group of three experts

.

In this case, Naser Osmani, former deputy from the ranks of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Atdhe Gashi and the former adviser of the former Prime Minister of Kosovo in exile, Bujar Bukoshi, are accused of the criminal offense of "Employment".

For the accused Bujar Bukoshi, the procedure is separate.

In this session, the witnesses Nezif Fejza and Hafiz Gagica, who live abroad, were not present

.

Prosecutor Atdhe Dema has proposed to the court to read the minutes of the interrogation of these two witnesses, adding that their statements will not have crucial content for this case.

Advertisement

Advertisement

The proposal of prosecutor Dema was approved by judge Adnan Kamberi, who considered the statements of witnesses Fejza and Gagica as read.

Further, Judge Kamberi has informed him that the Court of Appeal has instructed the court of first instance to appoint a group of financial experts of three experts, based on all the documents.

However, prosecutor Dema did not agree with these instructions of the Appeal, since according to him, this decision of the Appeal is scandalous and has neither a legal basis nor is it logical to make two super-expertises.

"It is paradoxical to appoint a group of experts to prove the factual situation, because the same has been proven once," said prosecutor Dema.

Advertisement

Advertisement

The defender of the accused Naser Osmani, lawyer Florent Latifaj, has said that he agrees with the prosecutor Dema and has proposed to appoint the previous experts and provide them with the documents that they did not have earlier, so that they complete the expertise done earlier, this so that, according to him, the procedure is not prolonged and due to the economy of the procedure.

Even the defender of the accused Atdhe Gashi, lawyer Halit Shalani, has agreed with lawyer Latifaj, to appoint the same group of experts, to complete the expertise in question or to appoint a new expertise.

Advertisement

In this regard, prosecutor Dema has stated that since the Appeal proposal instructs for a new expertise, and since the same experts have testified regarding this expertise, it would not be professional or legal for the same group to do the same expertise .

Advertisement

However, the defendant Naser Osmani has stated that since the Court of Appeal has recommended that some kind of verification of his mandate be done, he invites those who have the notes to find what his work and responsibility were during the mandate.

Then, Judge Kamberi made a decision that, according to the decision of the Appeal, the expertise consisting of three experts in the field should be appointed, in order to enable the court to give a fair factual situation.

Regarding this, the court will take a separate decision outside the session.

Advertisement

The next session will be scheduled after the compilation of the expertise.

Otherwise, in November 2020, Osmani and Gashi were found guilty of the criminal offense of embezzlement, for which they were sentenced to 3 years in prison.

Advertisement

However, on September 15, 2021, the Court of Appeals made a decision where it returned the case to a retrial.

According to this decision of the court of the second instance, the announcement of the judgment by the Basic Court in Pristina was not made according to the indictment brought against Naser Osman and Atdhe Gashi and that the judgment of the first instance was included with essential violations.

The indictment against Bujar Bukoshi, Naser Osman and Atdhe Gashi was filed on April 28, 2017, by the Special Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kosovo.

Advertisement

Previously, this case was assigned to judge Albina Shabani-Rama, who on May 23, 2018, held the initial hearing against Naser Osman and Atdhe Gashi.

In this session, judge Shabani-Rama made a decision to separate the criminal proceedings against Bujar Bukoshi, on the grounds that he was ill and could not appear in this initial hearing.

Advertisement

Then, on October 26, 2018, judge Shabani-Rama also held the second hearing against the accused Osmani and Gashi, who within the legal deadline had submitted objections to the evidence and had filed a request for dismissal of the indictment.

Advertisement

However, on December 3, 2018, judge Shabani-Rama made a decision to reject the requests for dismissal of the indictment and opposition to the evidence.

In this regard, the accused Osmani and Gashi appealed against this decision to the Court of Appeal, which on January 17, 2019, rejected these appeals, confirming the indictment in question.

Whereas, on January 18, 2019, this case was assigned to the judge of the General Department at the Basic Court in Prishtina, Medie Bytyçi, and on March 13 of this year, this case from the Appeal was returned to this judge's office.

Advertisement

Otherwise, the Special Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kosovo (PSRK) had filed an indictment against the accused Bujar Bukoshi, due to the criminal offense "Employment", from article 257, par. 2 related to par. 1 of the KPK and the criminal offense "Evidence from tax", from article 249, par. 2 related to par. 1 of the KPK, against the accused Bujar Bukoshi, Naser Osmani and Atdhe Gashi due to the criminal offense "Employment", from article 257, par. 3 related to par. 1 of the KPK, related to par. 31 of the KPK, against Naser Osman due to the criminal offense "Tax evasion", from article 249 par. 1 of the KPK and against the accused Atdhe Gashi due to of the criminal offense "Tax evasion", from article 249 par.1 of the KPK.

Advertisement

According to the PSRK, Bujar Bukoshi is accused that during the time period 2008-2015, in order to bring himself or another illegal financial benefit, he appropriated the movable property of other persons, which was entrusted to him, so that citizens of the Republic of Kosovo, employed outside Kosovo, have contributed with monetary means to the 3% Fund, seeing the need to help Kosovo, which at that time, was in very difficult economic conditions, giving donations each according to their possibilities from 3% to 10%, these funds were recently transferred to the account of "Fond de R. Kosova" in Prishtina, in NLB, the amount of 90,380.00 euros, he withdrew in cash (cash) which no evidence has justified the purposes for which it was used, thereby damaging the budget of the 3% Fund,and at the same time the compatriots of Kosovo, in the amount of 90,830.00 euros, as well as the amount of 3,500 euros, paid for tickets, Ingrid Steiner Gashi, on August 26, 2019, who is unknown, but not a worker of UFORK.

Advertisement

Advertisement

With these actions, the prosecution charges the accused Bujar Bukoshi with having committed the criminal offense of "Employment", from article 257, par.2 related to par.1 of the old Criminal Code of Kosovo, as a more favorable law.

Further, the PSRK charges the accused Bujar Bukoshi, Naser Osmani and Atdhe Gashi that during the time period 2006-2015, in collusion with each other, with the aim of bringing illegal economic benefits to themselves or others, they appropriated the property of movable property of other persons, which was entrusted to them, so that the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo, employed outside Kosovo, have contributed monetary means to the 3% fund, seeing the need to help Kosovo, which at that time was in very difficult economic conditions, giving donations each according to their possibilities from 3% to 10%, this money was recently transferred to the accounting of NGO UFORK, in Pristina, in BPB the amount of 154,132.47 euros, they have withdrawn it in cash in hand (kesh) which many have not justified with any evidence as to what purposes they used them for,by not realizing any project, and with this they have damaged the budget of the 3% Fund - UFORK, and at the same time the compatriots of the Republic of Kosovo, in the amount of 154,132.47 euros.

Advertisement

With these actions, the prosecution charges the accused Bujar Bukoshi, Naser Osmani and Atdhe Gashi, that in complicity they committed the criminal offense of "Employment", from article 257, par. 2 related to par. 1 of the old Criminal Code of Kosovo, as more favorable law, related to Article 31 of the KPRK.

In the third provision of the indictment, Bujar Bukoshi is accused that in the time period from 2008-2015, in the capacity of the responsible person, chairman of the Board of "UFORK" and as an employee there, with the aim of partially or completely avoiding payment of tax, fees or other contributions required by law, did not include the data related to his income earned through transactions, in the name of wages which he was obliged to declare to the Tax Administration of Kosovo, and the amount of evasion by the accused is 39,932.04 euros.

With these actions, the prosecution charges the accused Bujar Bukoshi with having committed the criminal offense of "Tax Evasion", from article 249, par. 2 related to par. 1 of the Old Criminal Code, as the most favorable law (KPK).

In the fourth provision, Naser Osmani is accused that in the time period from 2008-2013, in the capacity of a person employed in "UFORK", with the aim of partially or completely avoiding the payment of taxes, fees or other contributions required by law , did not include the data related to his income earned through transactions, in the name of wages and other income, and which he was obliged to declare these incomes to TAK, as a consequence it is damaged the budget of TAK - Republic of Kosovo, with 3510 euros.

With these actions, the prosecution charges the accused Naser Osmani with having committed the criminal offense of "Tax Evasion", from article 249, par.1 of the Old Criminal Code, as the most favorable law (KPK).

The Special Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kosovo charges the accused Atdhe Gashi, that in the time period from 2008-2013, in the capacity of a person employed in "UFORK", with the aim of partially or completely avoiding the payment of taxes, fees or other contributions required by law, did not include the data related to his income earned through transactions, in the name of wages, and other income, he was obliged to declare these incomes to the Tax Administration of Kosovo, the amount of evasion by the accused is 2667.30 euros.

With these actions, the prosecution charges the accused Atdhe Gashi with having committed the criminal offense of "Tax Evasion", from article 249, par.1 of the Old Criminal Code, as the most favorable law (KPK).

Also, the prosecutor of the Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo, Atdhe Demaj, on November 30, 2018, submitted to the court a submission, through which he supplemented and clarified the indictment filed on April 28, 2017.

According to this submission, the provision under point II of the indictment has been completed so that now the accused Bujar Bukoshi - Chairman of the Board of UFORK, based in Prishtina, Naser Osmani as a member of the board of the NGO "UFORK" in Prishtina, and Atdhe Gashi, in the capacity of the treasurer of the NGO "UFORK" in Prishtina, continuously, throughout the period of time from 2006 to 2015, in co-perpetration, with the aim of bringing illegal economic benefits to himself or others, appropriated the movable property of other persons who they, citizens of the Republic of Kosovo and other countries, contributors to the fund established there to finance the structures of the Government of Kosovo in exile, have been entrusted with the sum of at least 3% of their personal monthly income, which have been transferred in the accounting office of "UFORK", in Bank "BPB" in Prishtina,as they withdrew the amount of 154,132.47 euros in cash, they did not justify or prove the purpose of withdrawing this amount, this assessment and finding confirmed by the expertise of April 21, 2017.

With these actions, the prosecution charges the accused with complicity in committing the criminal offense of "Employment", from article 257, par.3 related to par.1 of the Provisional Criminal Code of the Republic of Kosovo. 

/

Oath of Righteousness

Note: The persons mentioned in this article are considered innocent, unless the court proves that they are guilty by a final decision.