With a fourth government in two years taking power in March, Kosovo’s publicly-owned enterprises face a new round of firing and hiring.

The most senior positions in state-run firms are traditionally filled with political appointees, who invariably depart when a new government enters office.

Amid widespread concern over the effect on the way such companies are run, the UK foreign office was enlisted in 2017 to aid in the hiring of senior staff with the aim of installing qualified professionals rather than party apparatchiks.

But BIRN has uncovered violations in the hiring of senior directors to at least two public enterprises – Kosovo’s postal service and the railway infrastructure firm INFRAKOS – as the previous government pressed ahead with a wave of recruitment even after being declared illegitimate by the country’s Constitutional Court.

On March 5, barely two weeks before the new government of Albin Kurti took office, Xhevdet Smakiqi, who ran for parliament in 2019 on behalf of the Social Democratic Initiative, NISMA, was appointed Chief Executive Officer at the Post of Kosovo, despite a law barring anyone involved in politics in the previous 36 months from holding a senior public enterprise position. NISMA was in government with the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK.

Three days later, Hysen Nikqi was appointed CEO of INFRAKOS, Kosovo’s state-owned railway network operator, in violation of legal procedures, according to a review by a body within the Economic Ministry.

British embassy concern

Kosovo current PM Albin Kurti (center L) in a meeting with Britain’s ambassador to Kosovo, Nicholas Abbott (up R), before Kurti takes office, February 26, 2021. Photo: Official Facebook Account of Vetevendosje Movement/ Courtesy of Vetevendosje Movement

In December last year, Kosovo’s Constitutional Court declared the LDK-led government at the time illegitimate, due to the fact it was voted in by a majority in parliament that included a vote cast by MP Etem Arifi, who should never have been allowed to enter parliament due to a previous prison sentence for corruption.

A snap election was called for February 14, but the fact the government was outgoing did not stop it from appointing board members – in an interim capacity given the government’s outgoing status – to a string of public enterprises or directors to government institutions and agencies.

Several of those appointed had clear political affiliations.

While there is no law against an outgoing government making such appointments, on March 12, 10 days before taking office as prime minister, Kurti called on the government of PM Avdullah Hoti to “immediately” halt the recruitment drive until a new administration was voted in.

“I feel the need to reiterate that only new institutions stemming from the will of the February 14 elections have a mandate to ensure the advancement of public institutions, including enterprises of special importance and regulators or executive agencies,” Kurti wrote on Facebook.

But between the Constitutional Court ruling in December and Kurti taking office on March 22, BIRN has calculated that Hoti’s government appointed 11 board members of public enterprises and proposed a number of other members.

Kurti had powerful backing in the shape of the British embassy in Pristina, which also expressed concern about recruitment to public enterprises.

“We believe that they should be transparent and well-structured, and in accordance with the Law on Public Enterprises,” the embassy said in a statement on March 10. “We strongly suggest that the incumbent Government postpone all decisions and recruitment processes for senior officials until new institutions are formed.”

Political affiliation no apparent barrier

Kosovo former PM Avdullah Hoti (L) and former deputy PM Driton Selmanaj (R). Photo: Courtesy of Former deputy PM Driton Selmanaj office

On March 17, following the statements by Kurti and the British embassy, the Post of Kosovo announced it had suspended the process of filling senior company positions, in order to avoid “misunderstandings and misinterpretations,” the chairman of the interim board, Leonard Shabanaj told BIRN at the time.

The company, however, had already appointed Smakiqi as CEO.

Smakiqi was already doing the job in an acting capacity, during which time he created a number of different committees to manage Post of Kosovo as a Non-Banking Financial Institution.

Smakiqi recruited members of the Post of Kosovo’s interim board to these committees, for which they were received an additional 180-200 euros per month, despite a law that prohibits extra pay for members of the board. These board members, loyalists of the LDK and another of its coalition allies, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, then elected Smakiqi as full CEO.

Smakiqi told BIRN he had ceased being an active member of NISMA on November 27, 2019. Under the law, however, not enough time had elapsed since then for him to be eligible for the post of CEO at Post of Kosovo.

“If I had been an active member of the leadership structures [of NISMA] I would not have entered the recruitment process,” Smakiqi told BIRN.

He ruled out resigning unless a court ordered him to do so.

On March 29, after this story was first aired on BIRN’s television show in Kosovo, the Post of Kosovo threatened to sue BIRN over the allegations made concerning its hiring practices.

The very fact Post of Kosovo moved ahead with the hiring was controversial, given that in July last year the Ministry of Economy and Environment under the AAK’s Blerim Kuci, had requested a halt to the filling of senior public enterprise positions.

Shabanaj, the chairman of the Post of Kosovo Interim Board, told BIRN that the board had been in touch with the ministry and had been given “verbal” permission “to announce these competitions and to continue with the procedures”.

Kuci said this was untrue, as did his successor, Muharrem Nitaj.

“It did not make sense to elect the CEO via a temporary board,” he said. “Our position in principle has been that only in case of a resignation the interim boards are obliged to elect temporary bodies.”

Nitaj also told BIRN he did not give Shabanaj the green light to continue with the hiring.

Monitoring access denied

In the case of Nikqi at INFRAKOS, according to documents seen by BIRN, a monitoring unit at the Economy Ministry under the last LDK-led government uncovered violations in the way the company board conducted the recruitment; legal deadlines were not met and the board ignored the July 2020 decision of the ministry to halt the recruitment process. The ministry requested the board’s dismissal.

The director of the monitoring unit, Besnik Krasniqi, told BIRN that the board of INFRAKOS had failed to provide with any support in its work.

The board is headed by Brahim Selimaj, who ran for parliament in February on behalf of the LDK.

Selimaj said that no rules were broken. Describing Nikqi as “an apolitical man”, Selimaj told BIRN: “I’ve never even had coffee with him. I do not know him.”

“The election of the CEO is complete,” he said. “If they want to leave the company without governance, let them fire me and let them dismiss the CEO.”

Suspicions have also been raised about the hiring of a new director at the University Hospital and Clinical Service, ShSKUK.

On February 1, despite the law allowing registered NGOs to recruitment process, the ShSKUK Interim Board denied BIRN access 20 minutes after candidates had begun sitting written tests.

Two candidates withdrew after ShSKUK ruled that Valbon Krasniqi, who ran for parliament on behalf of the LDK in 2017, could stand for the post despite being eliminated earlier by the recruitment commission due to a lack of managerial experience. Krasniqi was duly elected in February.

Taking office in March, Kurti’s health minister, Arben Vitia, vowed that “every competition in the Ministry of Health will be monitored and every stakeholder will be invited, including the media, to ensure transparency.”