Norwegian Detained for 30 Days Over Fraud

Ove Johansen

Judge Arkadiusz Sedek, of the EU rule-of-law mission EULEX, ruled that 46-year-old Johansen should be held under charges of “abuse of an official position”, “facilitating abuse of an official position” and agreeing a “damaging contract”.

If found guilty, he faces eight to ten years in prison. He denies all wrongdoing.

The Norwegian was extradited to Kosovo on Thursday, following an agreement between Kosovo’s Ministry of Justice and its Montenegrin counterpart.

Johansen is suspected of committing fraud relating to a deal with the publicly owned firm PTK, Post and Telecommunication of Kosovo.

The case concerns an agreement signed in 2002 between Norway Invest and PTK to install Tetra phone masts for the emergency services and military in Kosovo.

The deal was signed by the then PTK director, Leme Xhema, and Ronny Sorensen, a member of Norway Invest.

According to documents filed at Pristina District Court, Norway Invest was a ‘ghost company’, with only a postal address in Norway.

Prosecutors allege that 300,000 euro was transferred to Norway Invest from PTK, for ‘preliminary work’ on the phone mast project.

It is alleged that the money was then taken from the account and vanished. Prosecutors claim that Johansen benefited the cash.

A Kosovo court last year convicted Xhema of abusing her authority and company resources. Mustafe Neziri, Norway Invest’s director for Kosovo, was also convicted for fraudulent contracts. Both have appealed and Xhema this week saw her sentence reduced to three years.

Johansen was arrested in Montenegro in 2007 following the issue of an Interpol warrant but was not extradited until now.

Sorensen, who lives in Oslo, Norway, is also wanted by Interpol and also denies any wrongdoing.

In an earlier interview with Balkan Insight, Johansen claimed that he has been 'effectively under house arrest' since the arrest, as he had been unable to leave Montenegro but also not given the opportunity to clear his name. 

Johansen and Sorensen launched the website dontinvestinkosovo.com earlier this year to warn firms against investing in Kosovo.

Johansen and Sorensen are also among 31 investors from Norway Invest to be claiming 5.5 million euro damages from three Kosovo public bodies - the PTK, the Kosovo Trust Agency, KTA, and its successor, the Kosovo Privatisation Agency, KPA - for the collapse of the phone mast contract and lost revenue.

Karin Limdal, police spokesperson for EULEX, confirmed that Johansen will be held for 30 days before facing a possible trail.