The Kosovo police arrested an official of the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday for stealing €2.1 million from the Kosovo Treasury, and transferring it to a private business, whose two owners are on the run.
The official was detained on Tuesday night, the police announced today. They have asked the blocking of bank accounts due to suspicions that part of the money has already been transferred abroad. Police searched the houses of suspects but found no traces of the stolen amount.
The money was transferred in four installations starting on October 9, from the Treasury administered by the Ministry of Finance, through the Ministry of Infrastructure and into the accounts of a private business, Minister of Finance Hykmete Bajrami said in a press statement on Wednesday. She added that she has suspended the detained official, who worked in the ministry for 11 years, and his supervisor.
Minister Bajrami assured the public that this is an isolated case, and the government’s budget is intact and safe.
It comes shortly amidst a wave of dismissals of senior official by Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, as well as the dismantling of the government’s anti-corruption department.
