Public officials in Kosovo suspected of illicit enrichment are expected to have their assets verified, which in certain cases may even result in confiscation by the State Bureau for Verification and Confiscation of Unjustified Assets.
The new draft law for this mechanism passed its first reading in a session of the Kosovo Assembly on April 17, after the previous version was struck down by the Constitutional Court.
The bureau is expected to have special departments and officials who will verify assets suspected of being illegally acquired by public officials.
If the property is determined to be unjustifiable, the draft law provides for the confiscation of the property by the court.
But the way the Bureau will function has raised questions.
Vullnet Bugaqku, a researcher at the Democratic Institute of Kosovo, says in Radio Free Europe's 5 Questions podcast that the director of the Bureau is expected to be elected by the votes of the parliamentary majority, and to have full powers to initiate asset verification procedures.
The same director, according to Bugaqku, can also decide to stop verifying an official's assets, on the grounds that there is insufficient evidence. This, he believes, can be used politically, as no justice institution would be able to handle that asset anymore.
"No one can dispute that wealth anymore, and this kind of mechanism could serve as a mechanism of legitimizing wealth, which potentially if it went to court would probably be proven to be illegal," he says.
Bugaqku claims that in terms of civil asset forfeiture, the Bureau will be above other organs of the justice system.
He says that there is a contradiction in the law regarding the time period for asset verification, since, according to him, there is a provision that provides for the verification of assets acquired from February 17, 2008, but also another that states that a public official's assets can only be verified up to 10 years after they have completed their mandate.
"If a public official, for example, has his mandate terminated in 2010, the maximum deadline for his assets to be verified and confiscated is 2020," says Bugaqku, explaining that no banking or tax institution is obliged to retain data for longer than ten years, which would serve as evidence.
The new draft law on the Bureau was accompanied by remarks from the parliamentary opposition, as was the previous version, which the Democratic Party of Kosovo had sent to the Constitutional Court.
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