American Council for Kosovo - Organized Crime in Kosovo

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The American Council for Kosovo is an independent U.S. nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting a better American understanding of the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija and of the critical American stake in the province's future. The Council's mission is to make accurate information and analysis about Kosovo available to officials of the Executive and Legislative branches of the U.S. Government; to think tanks, media, NGOs, religious and advocacy organizations; and to the general public. In particular, the Council’s educational activities will generate a heightened American awareness that an independent Kosovo – forcibly and illegally detached from Serbia, as is now being contemplated by the international community – would be harmful to U.S. national interests and to European and global security.

Important Notice Concerning Fraudulent “American Council for Kosova“ Website:
It has come to our attention at the American Council for Kosovo that there still may be some confusion about an unauthorized mirror site, created by persons styling themselves the "American Council for Kosova." This deceptive site closely patterns the appearance of the genuine American Council for Kosovo site (www.savekosovo.org) but with a pro-Albanian separatist, anti-Serbian, pro-Kosovo independence message. Indeed, suggestions even have been made that we at the American Council for Kosovo are also behind the mirror site in order to "work both sides of the street," on the pro-Albanian side as well as the pro-Serbian side.
Nothing could be further from the truth! The pro-Albanian "Kosova" site appeared within days of our creation of the genuine American Council for Kosovo site. Its purpose was clearly to detract from the effort we had launched on behalf of the Christian Serbian community in Kosovo and Metohija under the guidance of Vladyka Artemije. It is characteristic of the pro-separation advocates that they are afraid to engage on the facts and international standards concerning Kosovo -- both of which favor the Serbian position -- and need to stoop to cheap tricks and deception in a feeble attempt to undermine our increasingly successful message. In that sense, we take their efforts -- which, given the activity of the fraudulent site, clearly are quite well-funded -- as a compliment to our work and evidence of increasing fear on the Muslim Albanian side that the the pro-separatist agenda is in deep trouble.
We at the American Council for Kosovo have been asked (1) why we did not preempt the available internet addresses for the fraudulent site, and (2) why we don't take legal action to shut them down. The short answer is that doing so would take away time and resources from our own activities, which given the formidable opposition we still face, we cannot afford to spare. Conversely, we are confident that intelligent readers, if they do chance across the fraudulent mirror site will soon see it for what it is: just more of the dishonest and misleading "Kosova" propaganda to which the world has been subject for the past decade and more. We ask the critical reader to make the appropriate comparisons and dismiss the fraulent mirror site to the oblivion it so richly deserves.
Media requesting further information about this matter may contact press@savekosovo.org

December 2006

Organized Crime in Kosovo

Luxurious habits of Pristina officials

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source: Mail Archive

By "Nezavisne", Banja Luka, Republic of Srpska, Bosnia-Hercegovina

Friday, 20 October 2006

Officials of Kosovo's government are spending millions of euros on cell phone bills, fuel, dinners and other "irrelevant things", says a confidential report of Kosovo's Ministry of Economy and Finance.

The poor Kosovo has an annual budget less than 700 million euros. In the first 6 months of this year, 8.3 million euros were spent on fuel bills. 2.5 million euros were spent on cell phone bills, and for lunches and dinners, 4.5 million euros.

2 million euros were spent on vehicle maintenance, even though most vehicles of Kosovo's government are new, and have been bought recently, in 2003 and 2004.

Millions of euros went on covering travels and per diem costs of Kosovo's officials.

Analysts say that the officials are spending "far more" than a government with such modest budget can afford, and that "a relatively luxurious lifestyle" is draining away "significant sums of money which could be used to cover priorities, such as economic development".

IMF representative in Kosovo, Marc Auboin, critisized Kosovo officials for high bills and warned that Kosovo's government is in danger of making bigger and bigger deficits.

"I must warn that next year there will be large strains on the budget", he said and added that so far, capital investments have not been the government's priority.

"Foreign countries will not be helping Kosovo much longer if they see the way that the local officials are spending money", he warned.

"The international community has agreed to finance the budget deficit for 2007, but what will happen in the future will depend on the policy of the government", he said amidst growing conflicts within the top levels of power, as warnings and accusations accumulate. The officials blamed their predecessors for creating high costs. The advisor to the prime minister of Kosovo Agim Ceku, Avni Arifi, said that the government is tackling "high costs inherited from the previous government", while the finance minister Haki Shatri denies that officials threw money away on irrelevant things.

"The budget of Kosovo is being used according to plan, and will cover all anticipated costs", he stated.

Organized Crime in Kosovo

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Wednesday, 6 May 2009
Kosovo and the EU's missing millions