"They caused damage worth 1 million euros at BKS"/ Around 40 people arrested in Kosovo

2026-01-08 18:13:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

"They caused damage worth 1 million euros at BKS"/ Around 40 people

Kosovo authorities arrested 39 people on Thursday during raids across the country as part of an investigation against two former heads of the Kosovo Security Bureau (BKS), who are suspected of misappropriation that caused the bureau damages worth over 1 million euros.

The Chief Prosecutor of the Basic Prosecution of Prizren, Petrit Kryeziu, said in a press conference that the targets of the investigations that began in March last year are the former executive director, Sami Mazreku, and the former Director of Finance of BKS, Valon Berisha.

Mazreku and Berisha - who were arrested during today's raids - are suspected of having misused BKS authorizations by enabling various persons, and through them, to carry out illegal transactions.

Chief Prosecutor Kryeziu said Mazreku and Berisha have achieved great benefits for themselves and caused harm to the BKS.

"They have also misused economic authorizations and compiled forged documents, where up to this stage we have assessed that they have used those suspected documents for personal gain and have caused damage to the BKS in the amount of 1 million and 43 thousand euros," Kryeziu said.

Prosecutors seized 23,700 euros, gold, accessories, various watches and electronic devices during the raids, Kryeziu announced.

He added that in close cooperation with financial intelligence, 1.3 million euros have been frozen.

Earlier, the BKS said that regarding this action, it was initiated by the bureau itself in its capacity as the injured party "as a result of the findings identified in the Internal Audit report."

The BKS added that it has made available to the authorities all the documentation and information necessary for the conduct of the investigations.

Kryeziu said that the targets of the raids were 47 people, but when asked by journalists why some of them were not detained, he said that "the rest of the suspects were abroad or were not present."

He indicated that prosecutors have managed to find 166 suspicious transactions as evidence in this case.

"Among them, 25 transactions relate to 12 people, with whom they reached fictitious out-of-court settlements, allegedly as representatives of people who previously had traffic accidents and compensated them in 2022 and 2023, while other people were compensated in 2016 and 2017 ," he announced.

The smallest transaction amount was 6,800 euros, while the highest was 68,000 euros, according to him. The raids were carried out in parts of the country, such as Pristina in Prizren, Mitrovica, Peja, Klina, Rahovec, Obiliq, Gjilan, Ferizaj and Dragash. Kryeziu warned that authorities will continue their investigations into the case. /REL