24 May 2012

Today a mixed panel of EULEX and local judges at the Peja/Peć District Court found K.P. guilty of Abuse of Official Position or Authority, while L.P. and B.B. were found guilty of committing the criminal offence of Fraud. I.S. was acquitted of all charges.

The panel found that K.P. (a former judge) and L.P. (a former lawyer) concocted a personal injury claim. K.P. appointed B.B. (a doctor) who drafted an exaggerated medical report. The defendant, I.S. acted for the Guarantee Fund of Kosovo and he agreed to settle the concocted claim in the sum of sixteen thousand euros. As presiding judge K.P. approved the settlement by which the Guarantee Fund of Kosovo was ordered to pay compensation in the sum of sixteen thousand euros and costs in the sum of eight hundred euros. K.P. and L.P. misappropriated these monies.

K.P. was sentenced to five years imprisonment for abusing his official position. In addition, the panel imposed an accessory punishment for K.P., prohibiting him from exercising public administration or public service functions for three years after the punishment of imprisonment has been served. K.P. was acquitted of the offence of Organized Crime. The remaining charges were subsumed into the single count of Abuse of Official Position.

L.P. was sentenced to three years imprisonment. The panel re-classified the initial charge of Organized Crime against L.P. to one of Fraud. Additionally, the panel issued an accessory punishment for L.P., prohibiting him from exercising his profession for a period of three years, starting from the day the judgement becomes final.

B.B. was sentenced to six months of imprisonment, for committing the criminal offence of Fraud, which was re-classified by the panel from the initial charge of Organised Crime. The punishment will not be executed if the defendant does not commit another criminal offence for a period of two years. The panel issued an accessory punishment for B.B., prohibiting him from exercising his profession for a period of three years.

The trial panel decided that there was insufficient evidence to convict all the defendants of the criminal offence of Organized Crime. There was no evidence that the defendant, B.B. knew of the agreement between the defendants, K.P. and J.P. to defraud the Guarantee Fund of Kosovo. There must be a minimum of three persons acting together in order to commit the offence of organized crime.