Kosovo's Feith Complains of EU Police Probe

Pieter Fieth, whose role is to supervise Kosovo's independence, has issued a complaint about his investigation at the hands of a EULEX prosecutor concerning his alleged involvement in the appointment of the Kosovo bank governor.

Feith’s letter to EULEX head Xavier De Marnhac, dated June 12 and published on Tuesday by Pristina’s daily Express, said he had used the competencies to choose the bank head granted by Kosovo’s constitution, which say that the bank governor can only be elected by Kosovo’s Assembly following his consent.

Feith said he had advised the Central’s Bank board to review the short list of candidates before submitting it to the Kosovo Assembly.

He is said to have suggested to the board that one candidate was not a proper person for the governor’s position and should be excluded from the list.

The EU rule-of-law mission confirmed that Feith had since been investigated by an international prosecutor.

“A prosecutor investigated the case, which is already closed, since there was no substantial evidence for further investigations,” Blerim Krasniqi, EULEX spokesperson, told journalists on Monday.

In his letter of complaint, Feith asked the head of EULEX to explain on what basis the Kosovo’s Special Prosecutors Office, SPRK, had initiated investigations against him and his former colleague.

“In relation to this, I am concerned that there will be a permanent record at the Kosovo’s Special Prosecution Office registry related to this issue,” Express quoted Feith as saying in the letter. 

“This issue raises a serious question for me related to the management control and level of awareness in EULEX regarding the political environment in which it operates,” he is quoted as adding.

The new bank governor, Gani Gerguri, was elected last March following the controversial arrest of the former governor, Hashim Rexhepi.

Rexhepi was arrested on July 2010 on suspicion of abusing his official position and authority, by accepting bribes, evading taxes, trading in influence and money laundering.

At that time, Shkendije Himaj, head of the supervision department, was also arrested but investigations against her terminated on June 1, 2011.

A BIRN investigation in April revealed that Rexhepi was forced from his post on the basis of charges that were full of errors, following a concerted campaign against him by Kosovo’s political elite.