10 June 2014

Today, the Basic Court of Pristina issued a Ruling on the objections to evidence and requests to dismiss the indictment which were filed by the defense in the second criminal proceedings in the so called Ministry of Transport, Post and Telecommunications case (MTPT 2 case).

The Presiding Trial Judge confirmed most of the charges contained in the Indictment and decided to proceed with the case at main trial.

In addition, the Presiding Trial Judge decided to join the proceedings in MTPT 2 with the ongoing criminal proceedings in MTPT 1.

The Court found sufficient evidence for a well-grounded suspicion that the defendants F.L, former Minster of the MTPT, N.K., former Chief of Procurement of the MTPT, and S.T., bodyguard of F.L., in the year 2008 formed an organized criminal group which committed the serious criminal offence of Abuse of Official Position or Authority. The alleged target of the organized criminal group was to award lucrative road constructions, respectively road maintenance tenders to road construction companies on the basis of political considerations and by way of circumventing and manipulating procurement procedures.

The charges against defendants F.L., N.K. and S.T. for Misappropriation in Office and Entering into Harmful Contracts were both dismissed by the Court. Also the charge of Accepting Bribes was dismissed by the Court as no sufficient evidence was presented by the Special Prosecution Office.

The Court dismissed in its entirety the charges against the defendants A.A. and B.D. and terminated the criminal proceedings against them. The defendants were charged with the criminal offences of Misuse of Economic Authorization and Giving Bribes. The Court concluded that there is no sufficient evidence to support these charges.

With regard to the evidence collected by the Prosecution during the investigative stage, the Court found several procedural violations and excluded various items of evidence, particularly pre-trial statements and intercepted communications.
The Presiding Trial Judge further granted the Prosecutor's Application join the MTPT 1 and MTPT 2n cases. The judge found that joint cases would be in the interests of justice and in accordance with the rights of the defendants.

The Special Prosecution Office and the defense council are entitled to file an appeal against the Court's Ruling on the objections to evidence and request to dismiss the indictment to the Court of Appeals. The Ruling regarding joining of cases MTPT 1 and MTPT 2 is final and not subject to an appeal.