Prime Minister Albin Kurti was involved in the process of electing members of the Board of the Independent Commission for Mines and Minerals, BIRN has found out.

On BIRN’s Kallxo Pernime show, the head of the Board of the Independent Commission for Mines and Minerals, ICMM, Selvete Grajqevci-Pllana, said that before her name went to the Assembly of Kosovo for approval, she held a meeting with Kurti.

Kurti met four out of the five members of the board before they were elected by the Assembly in December 2021 as board members of the Independent Commission for Mines and Minerals, ICMM.

Regarding the meeting, Grajqevci-Pllana said that it was short, and after this meeting she was appointed chairperson of the ICMM. 

“We were in a conversation, it wasn’t even an interview, it was five minutes, he just said ‘I’m interested in your CV’. I told him that I’d worked at the KEC [Kosovo Energy Corporation], I am a lawyer by profession. I said that I think that in accordance with the Mining Law I have implemented all the provisions provided in the law,” she adedd. 

Grajqevci-Pllana was also asked about possible connections with Kurti’s ruling Lëvizja Vetëvendosje, LVV.

“I didn’t have any relationship [to it]. My husband was earlier a member of the LVV, I applied even earlier, I didn’t express myself. I probably don’t have the LVV as a sympathizer,” she said.

Members Gani Maliqi, Jahir Gashi and Gani Kastrati also confirmed meeting the PM before they were voted in the Assembly. Gashi told BIRN details about his discussion with Kurti.

“I had a meeting with the Prime Minister before I was elected a member of the board, and for this I assure you that the conversation was very constructive and only related to the experience and professional training I have had over the years,” he said.

“The meeting did not last more than five or 10 minutes and did not have the character of an interview at all, as is being claimed by some others. It was the first and only meeting so far,” he added.

Meanwhile, another member of the board, Rrezarta Pushkolli-Makolli, denied having held a meeting with Kurti. 

BIRN contacted the Prime Minister’s Office regarding the reasons for these meetings but it did not reply by time of publication

Selvete Grajqevci-Pllana, Gani Maliqi, Gani Kastrati, Jahir Gashi and Rrezarta Pushkolli-Makolli were appointed to the ICMM Board on December 6, 2021 by the Assembly of Kosovo.

The Independent Commission for Mines and Minerals, ICMM, is an independent agency, as determined by the Constitution.

ICMM’s mission is to issue and administer all permits and licenses for mining exploitation, to carry out technical supervision of mining installations and plants, as well as to compile legal, safety and health regulations in workplaces.