Opposition parties in Kosovo criticized the dismissal of the Director of the Special Investigation Unit in the Kosovo Police.

Përparim Gruda from the opposition party Democratic Party of Kosovo claims that the dismissal of the Director of the Special Investigation Unit in the Kosovo Police, Shemsi Haziri, is political.

According to PDK, the dismissal is related to Ambassador Martin Berishaj, as well as the suspended director of Kosovo Energy Corporation, KEC,  Nagip Krasniqi.

“The dismissal of this director who was investigating these officials is a political attempt, it is a political interference in the investigation by the Government, to cover up the scandal of Martin Berishaj and to hinder further investigations into this scandal and the scandal of Nagip Krasniqi,” said Gruda on Sunday at a press conference.

Gruda stated that with this move, the Government is trying to discourage independent investigators within the Kosovo Police.

Deputy Minister of Justice, Blerim Sallahu, has responded to Gruda by saying that the Gruda conference is a continuation of attacks against the state.

“In this conference, he [Gruda] said, ‘Since Donika Gervalla and Martin Berishaj have dual citizenship, when PDK takes office, they will not continue living in Kosovo.’ This is a threat and at the same time a brutal violation of fundamental rights and freedoms established by the constitution,” wrote Sallahu on Facebook.

According to him, this is the ‘western legal doctrine of PDK and its representatives’.

Visar Azemi from the other opposition party, Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, said that the dismissal of Haziri, who investigated the case of Krasniqi and that of Berishaj, “does not look coincidental.”

“State mechanisms are being used to cover up the scandals of these two individuals. This is the very definition of state capture. This is the power that serves energy merchants,” Azemi wrote on Facebook on Friday.

Dismissed director, Shemsi Haziri, said that the decision was communicated to him verbally, and he still does not know the reasons for his dismissal.

“I will still be part of the Police, but not in the position I had. They have not communicated the reasons to me; I have asked for reasons, but they haven’t given them to me. That’s all I have,” Shemsi Haziri told BIRN on the day of his dismissal.

The department within the Kosovo Police led by Shemsi Haziri has been investigating the case of the suspended director of KEC, Nagip Krasniqi, who was arrested on the order of the Special Prosecutor’s Office of Kosovo, under suspicion of committing the criminal act of abuse of position or official authority, exercising influence, and conflict of interest.

On April 25, the Board of Directors of the KEC decided to suspend Nagip Krasniqi from his position.

On the other hand, in April 2022, it was reported that the ambassador of Kosovo to Croatia, Martin Berishaj, was involved in a financial scandal after the Slovenian media outlet Planet TV reported that he had received about 600,000 euros from the Serbian branch of GEN, an energy company, to his consulting company in Montenegro and then transferred the money to a Slovenian politician, Robert Golob, now PM of Slovenia.

At that time, Kosovo Foreign Minister Donika Gërvalla, after a meeting with  Slovenian FM Tanja Fajon, added that they cannot dismiss an ambassador just because of “various media speculations, without having any facts”.