Kosovo Prosecutors Arrest Central Bank Governor Hashim Rexhepi After Raids
Kosovo prosecutors arrested central bank Governor Hashim Rexhepi after raids on his office and home in a corruption investigation.
Police officers from the Special Prosecutor Office’s anti- corruption unit searched the residences of four suspects, including Rexhepi, central bank offices and a private company in Pristina, the European Union Rule of Law Mission to Kosovo, also known as EULEX, said today in a statement.
“Central bank Governor Hashim Rexhepi was arrested today in the capital, Pristina, on suspicion of corruption and other charges,” Euxlex spokeswoman Karin Limdal said by phone.
Rexhepi was appointed to a five-year term in March 2008. The central bank’s management and governing board met today to review the situation and “undertook all necessary steps” to ensure continuity of operations, the bank said in a statement.
The searches were part of a “corruption and financial investigation into suspicion of abusing official position or authority, accepting bribes, tax evasion, trading in influence and money laundering,” according to the statement.
The raids came one day after the International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest court, said Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia was legal.
Kosovo, where 90 percent of the population is ethnic Albanian, unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia almost nine years after the North Atlantic Treaty Organization drove out the Serb army under leader Slobodan Milosevic.
To contact the reporter on this story: Peter Laca in Prague at placa@bloomberg.net Boris Cerni in Ljubljana, Slovenia, at bcerni@bloomberg.net
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