Kurti says Kosovo judiciary to deal with the Veselinovic organized crime group sanctioned by the US

English

Gazeta Express

09/12/2021 14:48

Kosovo Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, has commented Thursday the decision of the US to sanction the Zvonko Veselinovic organized crime group operating in northern Kosovo. Kurti warned that Kosovo’s judiciary will deal with those sanctioned by the US, Gazeta Express reports.

“We have welcomed the decision, which shows that organised crime and corruption should have no place, not only in the EU countries, but also countries aspiring to join the EU such as Kosovo. But, what we should do next, and this is our job, is that the judiciary system to closely follow all the decisions taken by the United States of America who have sufficient information, in order for those criminal groups not to be sanctioned by the US, but to be sanctioned,  investigated, tried and convicted also here,” Kurti told media on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a press release announcing sanctions against Zvonko Veselinovic, identified by the US authorities as the leader of the Zvonko Veselinovic Organized Crime Group, and as Kosovo’s most notorious corrupt figures. “The Veselinovic OCG is engaged in a largescale bribery scheme with Kosovar and Serbian security officials who facilitate the group’s illicit trafficking of goods, money, narcotics, and weapons between Kosovo and Serbia. The group has also conspired with various politicians in several quid pro quo agreements, including the early 2019 bribery of Kosovar security officials to allow their smuggling operations between Serbia and Kosovo and the late 2017 bribery of Kosovar border security officials to allow safe passage for smugglers,” according to the OFAC press release. /GazetaExpress/