Freedom House Report: The Government of Albin Kurti Faces Corruption Scandal

In its annual report for 2023, Freedom House notes that during the year, the government of Albin Kurti faced a corruption scandal involving state reserves that are still under investigation, according to Ekonomija Online. Freedom House released an annual report in which Kosovo scored 38 points out of 100, categorizing it as a transitional or hybrid regime.

The report also mentions some of the corruption affairs, including one involving state reserves, in which the Minister of Industry, Rozeta Hajdari, is implicated.

"The Kurti government itself faced a corruption scandal in 2023 involving unaccounted state reserves, which are still under investigation," the Freedom House report on state reserves states.

The State Department's annual Human Rights Report also highlights systemic corruption in the Government of Kosovo as a problem, and the Democratic Party of Kosovo has assessed that this report reveals the utter incompetence and failure of Kurti's government in all areas.

DPK MP Bljerta Deliu-Kodra said at a press conference that the findings of this report prove that Kosovo has been led for four years by a corrupt, incompetent, nepotistic, and offensive government that jeopardizes media freedom of expression.

"The US State Department's report on Kosovo, which is extremely bleak this year as it was last year, shows more than our reality in Kosovo. This report, which is obviously credible and well-analyzed, reveals the extreme failure of this government in all areas, most importantly in state leadership," she added.

She expressed concern about this report of serious government corruption, involving five ministers and two deputy ministers who are under investigation for criminal acts related to corruption.

"We also have two decisions of the Basic Court in Pristina, which found Minister Rozeta Hajdari and Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Liza Gashi guilty of failing to declare assets. Exclusive cases of this government and its representatives during this term, which relate to massive corruption in power, are numerous. The dealings of ambassadors like Martin Berisha, Nagip Krasniqi from KEK, Faruk Mujka, Ridvan Muharem, and Minister Hajdari concerning state reserves, single-source contracts exceeding 200 million euros, all the way to the latest media reports about forgiving millions in debts to companies by Minister Liburn Aliu," said Deliu-Kodra.

DPK Presidency member Perparim Gruda said that the US State Department report accurately described a general weakening in the level of rule of law, particularly government interventions in the judicial system.

"The phrase 'political interference in justice' is found several times in this report. This clearly shows the continued efforts of this government to protect its corrupt people by interfering in the judicial system," Gruda stated, adding that in the meantime, nothing has been done to implement the promised reforms in the judicial system.

The State Department's human rights report states that there were no significant changes in the situation over the past year in Kosovo, with serious problems highlighted including judicial independence, restrictions on freedom of expression and media, violence or threats of violence against media workers, government corruption, gender-based violence, and criminal acts involving violence or threats of violence directed at ethnic minorities or other marginalized communities.

"The government has taken credible but inconsistent steps to identify, investigate, prosecute, and punish officials who may have committed human rights violations," the report states, adding that the administration of justice has been slow and that resources were lacking to ensure accountability of judicial officials.

It is noted that civil society often criticized the government for public interference in the independence and impartiality of judicial institutions, especially regarding investigations into corruption of government officials.

The Association of Journalers in Kosovo reported being targeted several times by digital defamation campaigns when defending journalists and media and recorded 30 attacks on journalists reporting on political tensions in the north in May and June.

Regarding Serbia-Kosovo relations through the media lens, the report mentions that high politics dominates, while everyday problems are in the background.

In terms of corruption, the State Department report highlights that the lack of effective judicial oversight and general weakness in the rule of law contributed to the problem.