Welcome to the Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade,
Today, I am here with our Deputy Secretary, Mr. Daut Latifaj, who informed me today that the Special Prosecution Investigation Unit came to the Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade today, by order of Prosecutor Valdet Gashi to examine the offices of two senior MIET officials, namely the Director of the Department of State Reserves, Mr. Hafiz Gara, and the Director of the Department of European Integrations, Mr. Irfan Lipovica. Further, the Special Prosecution today made announcements on the case they are investigating.
The Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade welcomes any investigation in the case of the state reserve purchase, although we are convinced that state supplies and reserves are in compliance with the relevant laws in force, and the relevant national reserve supply plan.
As the Minister of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade, I expect the investigation authorities to be attentive during their investigative work in order to not violate national security under any circumstances as we are talking about the state reserves of our Republic, classified by the Law on State Reserves and the Law on Protection of Classified Information. This is because, during the investigations, the documents that were taken as evidence from the police, are classified as state secret in the Ministry, while the investigating unit police did not present any certificate of secret safety, therefore the request of the police to receive and submit this evidence/documents was against the Law on Protection of Classified Information.
The Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade assures all citizens that the process of supplying goods to the State Reserve, with defined quality standards and parameters, has been handled and monitored according to the legislation in force. And, we do not suspect any abuse to have been committed by our officials, who are detained today for 48 hours in the Police.
Honorable media and dear citizens,
For a long time, since over a year, and especially in the recent months, there have been great efforts in our country to misinform the public about this issue. The motives and reasons for these actions encouraged and coordinated by different groups of interest should also be part of the investigations in this case.
Allow me to inform you that the state reserves goods are created to intervene operatively for the protection of the population, the economy in case of market disorder, the protection of the country and other situations defined by Article 2 of Law no. 03/l-244 on state reserves goods.
Therefore, during the two years of the Government led by the Vetëvendosje Movement, state reserves have recorded the highest growth ever, increasing 30-fold so far. This is a significant difference from the previous governments, where we found the state reserve in a chasm, stolen and threatening the national security of our population.
Honorable media and dear citizens,
MIET assures all citizens that all negotiation and purchase procedures of 2022 regarding the supply of goods for the State Reserve have been developed and continue to be handled according to the legislation in force, respectively according to the Law on State Reserve of the Republic of Kosovo, Law on Budgetary Allocations for the Budget of the Republic of Kosovo for the year 2022, Law on Protection of Classified Information and Decision of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo no. 01/65 dated 26.02.2022. So, the entire process of supplying goods to the State Reserve, with defined quality standards and parameters and according to the supply plan for 2022, has been handled and monitored according to the relevant legislation in force.
Regarding the purchase of national reserve supply during 2021, allow me to inform you as in the following:
In 2021, MIET announced three times the procurement procedures to purchase some quantity of the State Reserve, of which one procurement procedure was completed successfully, while two procurement procedures failed as no bids were presented by local economic operators.
In the first quarter of 2022, the supply of goods of the State Reserve, basic for the life of citizens, was handled as a matter of national security. Why? Because there was a high risk of border closure when the war in Ukraine started and there were insufficient amounts of supplies in the State Reserve of our country, which are crucial for the life and protection of the population in the event of a supply and survival crisis.
In early 2022, specifically in February 2022, the war in Ukraine caused disruptions to supply chains and shortages of basic living goods, due to the halt in exports from many countries, rising global inflation and rising prices. At that time, in February 2022, the Government of the Republic of Kosovo, at the request of MIET, increased the budget for the State Reserve and took a decision on the exemption from procurement procedures for the supply of products of the State Reserve of Goods, according to the aforementioned legislation in force, namely the Law on State Reserve of the Republic of Kosovo, Law on Budgetary Allocations for the Budget of the Republic of Kosovo for 2022, Law on Public Procurement in the Republic of Kosovo and Law on Protection of Classified Information.
Despite the impact of the war in Ukraine with export halts and disruptions in the supply chain of basic living goods, MIET through the Department of State Reserves and Commodities-DSRC, has increased the amount of reserves by 30 times, thus increasing national security for our citizens.
Of the supply contracts for the purchase of state reserves for 2022, there are delays in only about 3% of the total supply, for which the State Advocacy Office was also informed on June 8, 2023 by the office of the deputy secretary of MIET, for the initiation of the judicial procedure.
This year as well, the Ministry is committed to continue with the increase of the State Reserve, according to the Law on Budgetary Allocations for the Budget of the Republic of Kosovo for the year 2023, by an additional EUR 15 million, in order to ensure the citizens that in emergency circumstances they have state the support required to overcome potential survival crises.
The Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade has undertaken all the legal actions to denounce the slanders and insults to date against MIET, against me and against the officials of this ministry, to the justice bodies and at the same time is open to full cooperation with all the competent institutions for the matter concerned.
Also, we inform you that, since the beginning of my mandate, we have submitted 26 cases to the Basic Prosecution, the Kosovo Police and the Kosovo Court, and until now we have never been notified by them of taking any action.
We call on the above mentioned bodies to start handling these cases sent by MIET. However, I have been waiting for them to start with some action, because they were submitted over two years ago.
