President Osmani welcomes US sanctions on Veselinovic’s organised crime group in northern Kosovo

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Gazeta Express

08/12/2021 18:51

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani has welcomed the US sancations against Zvonko Veselinovic’s organised crime group operating in northern part of the country.

“I welcome US sanctions on Veselinovic and his transnational organized crime group from north Kosovo. Kosovo institutions are fully committed to rule of law and will cooperate with US to ensure that our region doesn’t become a safe haven for such crime groups,” Osmani wrote on Twitter.

Kosovo President reaction came after today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has confirmed targeting 16 individuals and 24 entities across several countries in Europe and the Western Hemisphere, including the Zvonko Veselinovic organized crime group and its assets.

According to a press release of this Office, as of late 2017, Veselinovic and his brother Zarko Jovan Veselinovic had agreements with politicians to help their party win elections, secure political victories for their candidates, and contribute large sums of money to candidates. In return, these politicians would grant the brothers control of certain areas for their businesses and where they could conduct their illicit business activities without interference by Serbian authorities, and would also provide proprietary business information to support the brothers’ business investments. The politicians would also reward the Veselinovic brothers by working to grant the brothers the best infrastructure contracts. /GazetaExpress/