The September 2023 Kallxo.com investigation revealing how Albanian businessmen became the ‘lords’ of Brezovica by corrupting officials at the local and central level was awarded top EU prize on Wednesday. The investigation found that between 2014 and 2022, corruption schemes facilitated the construction of more than 800 buildings and hotels in the well-known Brezovica Mountain Resort, which attracts tourists for its ski and nature offerings.

On December 21, 2021, criminal investigators and the State Prosecutor conducted raids  in Brezovica, including at the municipality building and the home of the former mayor, Branislav Nikolic, who was subsequently arrested that same day.

Nikolic pleaded not guilty in April 2023 and was released from custody on September 1 of the same year after posting bail of 50,000 euros.

Upon receiving the award, journalist Behar Mustafa said that “the Brezovica case clearly shows how crime and corruption started at the local level and ended up at the central level. The damage done to Brezovica is immense— centuries-old trees have been destroyed there.”

The investigation began when a whistleblower tipped off the police about a lucrative corruption scam through which municipal officials received hefty bribes to turn a blind eye to the construction of hotels and villas within an officially protected zone.

When the police failed to act, the whistleblower went to Kallxo.com office in Prishtina, lifting the lid on what would become one of the biggest graft scandals in Kosovo’s young history as an independent state and forcing authorities to act.

More than 100 arrests have been made since the beginning of the investigation. A trial began in April 2023, with the 11 defendants accused of giving or receiving bribes ranging from 10,000 euros to 250,000 euros for the construction of holiday homes and hotels in Brezovica’s winter wonderland 80 kilometres southeast of Prishtina.

According to current data, the bribes amounted to over 3 million euros, most of which are suspected to have gone to the former mayor of the municipality of Shtërpcë/Strpce, Nikolic, as well as other officials, including individuals in the Kosovo Government and the Ministry of Environment.

According to the prosecution files, there are properties in the protected zone owned by former Foreign Minister Enver Hoxhaj, Supreme Court Judge Agim Maliqi, Court of Appeals Judge Bashkim Hyseni, and head of the Ferizaj/Urosevac basic court Mustafe Tahiri. Two brothers of former President Hashim Thaci, who is standing trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in the Hague, also built villas there.

In addition to obtaining permits through corruption, the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning also contributed to the destruction of the protected area of Sharr Mountain National Park by reducing the permitted proximity of a property to a river from 30 metres to five metres by reclassifying certain rivers in the area as streams. 

The second place prize was awarded to Betimi për Drejtësi for the investigation by journalist Alberta Hashani titled, “Former Prosecutor Metush Biraj is Suspected of Taking Bribes to Dismiss an Indictment for 130 Kilograms of Marijuana.” Following the investigation, former prosecutor Biraj was indicted on corruption charges.

The third place prize  was awarded to BIRN grantee Kosovo 2.0 for the article by senior editor Aulonë Kadriu and journalist Dardan Hoti, “If the Videos Get Out, I’ll Lose Everything.” A shorter version of the story was published in Balkan Insight. The article delves into the issue of image-based sexual abuse in Kosovo, sometimes also referred to as ‘revenge porn,’ which feeds on stigma and an intense fear of exposure and causes  victims to suffer largely alone. The third place was shared by Kosovo 2.0 journalist Dafina Halili for her article “Sexual Harassment Goes Unpunished at the University of Prishtina.”

This is the fourth consecutive year that KALLXO journalists have won first place in the EU awards series.

Kallxo.com won the first place of the EU investigative journalism awards in 2023, for the investigation into corruption in the Appellate Prosecutor’s Office. BIRN’s extensive two-year investigation in November 2022 unravelled allegations that 150,000 euros were illicitly disbursed to influence the outcomes of certain cases in Kosovo’s courts. The recordings unequivocally implicated former Appeals Prosecutor Haxhi Dërguti for corruption.

In 2022, first place was awarded for the investigation into smuggling networks in northern Kosovo and their connections to money laundering. BIRN found that a company owned by a Kosovo Serb blacklisted by the US for alleged corruption had been winning government tenders in Kosovo’s Serb-dominated north and then subcontracting construction work to ethnic Albanian-owned firms.

In 2021, Kallxo.com won first place for the investigation into the monopoly on solar energy which found that a single businessman in Kosovo stands behind six companies reaping millions of euros from the sale of solar energy in violation of anti-monopoly rules. The Kallxo.com investigation into illegal casinos in Karaceva won third place.