MoJ publishes expenses on a weekly basis (Clarification)

Today, in some electronic and print media has been published the information stating that Deputy Minister of Justice, Prof. Dr. Hajredin Kuçi, during 2011, spent 13,078.85 euro on official lunches and dinners, but without clarifying that this amount included expenses of other subordinate departments of the Ministry of Justice.

The Ministry of Justice explains to the public that the total amount spent during the year 2011, published as cabinet costs of this Ministry, are not only the expenses made by the Minister, but in fact include all costs incurred by many other subordinate departments.

During 2011, the Ministry of Justice has developed several important activities, such as: the International War Crimes Conference, organized by the War Crimes Research Institute, various negotiations with delegations from other countries on international legal cooperation agreements, the organization of awarding the prize for justice "Sali Çekaj", visits made to the Ministry of Justice from Ministers and delegations of various European countries and beyond, a number of ceremonies regarding the establishment and functionalism of the notary and mediation institution, and many other events. The expenditures of all these events are part of the abovementioned amount and therefore this should not be construed as expenses from the Minister.

Minister Kuçi, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, holds an unusually high number of meetings with partners in Kosovo, hosts a large number of state leaders from around the world, which makes inevitable the need for formal lunches and dinners. In addition, if this amount is divided into 12 months, it comes out that the amount spent is thousands of euros lower than the amount allocated for these expenses.

Moreover, the Ministry of Justice, trying to be as transparent as possible for the expenses made, publishes all the expenses of each department on a weekly basis on its website, ranging from the cost of the Minister and his cabinet.

Transparency of costs publications on a weekly basis by the Ministry of Justice has been evaluated in the analysis titled "Kosovo Budget – transparency and budget reporting forms", published by the Institute for Advanced Studies (GAP).