The Kosovo Prime Minister held an extraordinary press conference on Wednesday to clarify the decisions on dismissals of Police chief, the Tax Administration director and the acting director of Customs.
Regarding the dismissal of the director of the Tax Administration of Kosovo (TAK) Ilir Murtezaj, Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti said that “he has approved the regulation for the internal organization of TAK in violation of the relevant law”.
“He has announced vacancies for new jobs and has not reassigned his former deputies, which he considered redundant. He did rapid staff movements,” Hoti stated.
“All violations were ascertained by the decision of the ombudsman. For all these reasons, we had to make this decision,” Hoti added.
Ilir Murtezaj was fired on October 16 from this position. Hoti appointed Ekrem Hysenaj in his place.
Regarding the dismissal of the Acting Director-General of Kosovo Customs, Hoti clarified that the vacancy for the position of the director in this institution is already open and the dismissed acting director is in that process already.
“The Kosovo Customs created a vacancy [for director’s position] and the [dismissed] acting director has applied for the role, so we have decided to appoint an acting director who is not going through that process. This is the reason why we have dismissed the acting director,” Hoti said.
While regarding the dismissal of the Kosovo Police director, Rashit Qalaj, Hoti said that it is due to his “unsatisfactory performance”.
According to Hoti, on the performance report by the minister of Internal Affairs Agim Veliu, Qalaj worked in violation of the legislation in force.
“The former General Director of Police, in violation of the legislation, has changed the organization chart of the Kosovo Police without going through the procedures at all, and he has never published it, keeping it secret from the minister and the citizens,” he said.
Citing all the decisions that have been taken in the last days, Hoti said: “You have not seen anything yet in terms of decisions and legality”.
