Alumni In Focus

Don't forget that if you don't have a recent success story to share, but you know of a fellow alumni who does, you can send it our way. Here is a great example of such a story, featuring Lieutenant Fidan Haliti, as recounted by our alumnus Major Arben Paçarizi.

“On December 28, 2020, in the Directorate for the Investigation of Economic Crimes and Corruption - Sector for Investigation of Corruption, the complainant submitted his complaint, which, among other things, stated that he applied to the Business Development Agency - BDA - Ministry of Agriculture for subsidies even though he met the conditions to win this subsidy, the decision to approve this subsidy got delayed deliberately. For the approval of the subsidy, he was asked for bribes by an inspector of the Ministry of Agriculture in cooperation with two other officials of the Ministry of Agriculture. After receiving this information, the Sector for Investigation of Corruption, in cooperation with the prosecutor of the Basic Prosecution - Pristina, started investigating the suspects in the Agency for the Development of Agriculture - Ministry of Agriculture. We started investigative actions in this case by applying special investigation measures defined in the Code of Criminal Procedure according to the relevant order from the Court.

From the implementation of these measures and investigative actions as a whole, Kosovo Police managed to secure evidence and testimonies that reveal a vast network of officials involved in the criminal offenses of Abusing Official Positions or Authority, Accepting and Giving Bribes, Subsidy Fraud, Falsifying Documents, etc. From the investigative actions, it has been possible to prove the modus operandi and organization of the BDA officials for taking bribes from citizens who applied for subsidies in cooperation with municipal inspectors.

This operation was divided in four important phases during which 38 Kosovo Government officials (Director of the Department, Inspectors of the Ministry of Agriculture, High officials of Direct Payments -subsidies, and Municipal officials of the Directorate of Agriculture, and Municipal Inspectors). Besides the Government officials, Kosovo Police have arrested 41 citizens (beneficiaries). The total amount seized from this operation is total of about 706,185 Euros cash.

During this operation, assets and bank accounts have been frozen in an amount of about 300,000.00 euros, the misuse of about 1,000,000.00 euros has been prevented, while damages and illegal benefits are estimated at around 2,000,000.00 euros.

This case reflects U.S. priorities and it’s directly linked with U.S. Embassy ICS Mission Objective 2.2:  Institutions’ transparency and ability to respond to all citizens’ needs; deliver quality services; implement laws, regulations, and court decisions; and reduce corruption is enhanced.

In ILEA training, the FBI investigators presented successful investigative approaches in corruption cases, which the Lt. Haliti has applied in all corruption investigation cases, where he has encouraged a new spirit of investigation in the direction of using the parallel financial investigation in cases of corruption, as well as the approach in identifying and confiscating assets benefited from criminal offenses. From this approach, in some cases, not only has the basic offense of corruption been proven but the offense of Money Laundering has also been proven. Using this successful knowledge in the "Subsidy" case, Lt. Haliti successfully carried out many other cases that have been prosecuted against high-level politicians and government officials, prosecutors, judges, and police investigators. The training at ILEA has increased the operational and technical skills of Lt. Haliti to implement an approach with multiple investigation methods in corruption cases and especially the need for the implementation of special investigation measures. In addition, the knowledge gained in ILEA regarding the need for the implementation of parallel financial investigations and seizure of assets in cases of corruption, this knowledge has been fully implemented in the case in question”

If you have a success story of your own to share, we want to hear it! Head to our Portal and fill out the form: https://ilea.state.gov/SuccessStoryDetails.aspx or contact our Alumni Coordinator, Nikoletta Szente-Varga on szentevargan@ilea.hu