The Special Prosecution of Kosovo said that Pristina mayor Përparim Rama was interviewed on Friday, 30 October, as a suspect, and is suspected of the criminal offense: “Abuse of position or official authority”. The Special Prosecution told Radio Free Europe that the interview of the mayor of Kosovo’s capital was conducted within the investigations being carried out in the criminal case “Architect of the Capital”.
“The Special Prosecution is undertaking the necessary investigative and procedural actions in accordance with the legislation in force”, the Special Prosecution said. Rama appeared before the Special Prosecution for an interview at around 13:30. After the interview, he said he is ready to cooperate with the Special Prosecution on this matter, and therefore appeared at the Prosecution, stressing that “we are totally transparent”.
“My job is the development of the capital, the construction of the capital; the job of the Prosecution is to know that everything is being done based on the legislation”, the mayor of Pristina said. His lawyer, Artan Qerkini, told the media that Rama is ready to provide the necessary clarifications before the prosecuting body, so that the Prosecution “is convinced that everything related to this project has gone according to the law”.
The Capital Architect Service was established in 2022 by the Municipality of Pristina during Rama’s mandate, providing for the drafting of architectural, urban and infrastructure projects for Pristina. The municipality had opened a tender called “Consultancy for the establishment of the Capital Architect Service”, with an estimated value of 12 million euros. This project had been criticized by the capital’s opposition and by non-governmental organizations, which had argued that there had been violations.
In 2024, the non-governmental organization Democracy Plus had asked the Municipality of Pristina to annul the 12-million-euro contract. This organization had said that violations had occurred when assigning the evaluation committee for the offers, as a person who was not part of the Municipality of Pristina had been appointed to it. According to the organization, there are suspicions of a conflict of interest, since this committee member was listed as a associate of one of the winning companies, namely Anarch Sh.P.K. The other winning operator was Ardi CC L.L.C.
While Rama was being interviewed by the Special Prosecution, the head of the assembly members of the Vetëvendosje Movement in the Municipality of Pristina, Gëzim Sveçla, wrote on social networks that the Municipality of Pristina had paid 1 million and 48 thousand euros for the services provided by the Capital Architect for October-November 2023. He said the payment was made for consultancy. He said that LVV had denounced the Capital Architect Service from the very beginning./REL/