On Wednesday, the Special Prosecution of Kosovo indicted the former Deputy Mayor of South Mitrovica, Faruk Mujka, and ex-Director of Geodesy, Cadastre, and Property, Hysen Muzliuka, on charges of corruption and abuse of office, following a three-year-old investigative report by KALLXO.com that exposed the questionable privatisation of the former city library building in Mitrovica, which allegedly caused financial damage to public property.

According to the Special Prosecution, both officials have been charged with “Abuse of official position or authority,” and are accused of intentionally misusing their roles to enable third parties to profit illegally from public assets.

“The defendants, aware that the Municipal Assembly had twice declared the property as being of special public interest, submitted a proposal to exchange it by misrepresenting it as municipal property,” the prosecution said. “Their actions caused a financial loss of 125,100 euros to the Kosovo Privatisation Agency,” the indictment read further.

In addition, Faruk Mujka is also charged with failing to properly declare assets, including income, gifts, and financial obligations—a separate offense under Kosovo’s anti-corruption laws.

The indictment comes after the April 2022 Kallxo Përnime TV broadcast which revealed the former public reading hall of the Mitrovica City Library had been turned into a privately owned cafe.

The 139 m² space on the ground floor of the “Bankosi” building—located in the main square of Mitrovica—had been public property. However, during the administration of then-Mayor Agim Bahtiri, the municipality relocated the library to a sports centre and pushed through the controversial property swap.

In 2017, Bahtiri had initially requested that several properties be withdrawn from the privatisation process and returned to municipal ownership for public use. 

By 2021, one of those same properties was exchanged with a private individual.

In the property exchange: The municipality received a 102 m² plot on Ali Zeneli Street, valued at 49,980  euros. In return, it gave up a 139 m² commercial space in the city centre, valued at 125,100 euros.

The Kosovo Privatisation Agency, KPA, insisted the municipality had no legal authority to transfer the property, which it claimed was still under its administration.

Former Mayor Agim Bahtiri had refused to comment on the case, saying he was “unaware” of the property exchange.

Meanwhile, Faruk Mujka, now under indictment, claimed he was misled by his political associates and did not know which property was involved in the decision.