Millions in Salaries Paid to Employees Who Were Absent from Work, Investigation Sought into Former “Civil Protection” Members

The employment contracts of twenty Serbian officials at the Ministry of Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure, also known as former members of “Civil Protection,” have been terminated. They had received salaries since 2016 despite failing to report to work.

The decision was announced by the acting minister of the MESP, Fitore Pacolli. She explained that the contracts were terminated because of their continued absences and in implementation of recommendations from the National Audit Office.

Pacolli said official documentation shows that these individuals, who were employed by the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning on January 5, 2016, had failed to meet the obligations arising from their employment. According to her, in addition to being continually absent, they had also failed to perform their assigned duties.

The acting minister said full legality and equal standards for everyone would be established in the public administration.

She warned that the institutions would not compromise in enforcing the law. According to Pacolli, no one can retain employee status without fulfilling the corresponding obligations, regardless of their background or position, because the public service must serve citizens responsibly and in full compliance with official duties.

Political affairs experts consider it a serious problem that employees who fail to meet their obligations are retained in Kosovo’s institutions. They have called for accountability and an investigation into the payments made over the years.

According to them, it cannot be tolerated that individuals in the public administration disregard their employment obligations while continuing to be paid from the state budget.

Experts also said recruitment must be conducted on the basis of legality, integrity and responsibility, while suspicions of misuse of public funds should be referred to the competent authorities.

Burjani: Employing People Who Act Against Kosovo Was a Serious Mistake

Lawyer and political analyst Blerim Burjani, speaking to “Bota sot” about the termination of the contracts of Serbian officials who had been absent from Kosovo’s institutions for years, described the employment of people who act against the state as unacceptable.

He said it was a major mistake to invest in people who work against Kosovo, do not recognize the state and harbor ill will toward it. Burjani questioned who had employed, on salaries paid by the state of Kosovo, individuals who acted against it.

According to him, such a practice must not be repeated. He also called for greater scrutiny when hiring judges and prosecutors from the Serbian community.

Burjani told “Bota sot” that vacancies should be advertised and, if possible, individuals who do not recognize the state should not be accepted. According to him, Serbian judges and prosecutors should first sign a declaration on statehood indicating whether or not they accept it, and only then should they be hired or rehired. He stressed that dismissal from employment entails serious legal consequences, so legal rules must be followed and implemented with full commitment.

Qarri: Payments to Fictitious Officials Must Be Investigated and Those Responsible Brought to Justice

Political analyst Gani Qarri, in a statement to “Bota sot,” linked the situation to the unlawful actions of previous governments.

He said official documents show that hundreds of thousands of euros were spent on these employees in 2025 alone.

According to Qarri, Kosovo continues to bear the consequences of the illegal actions of former, incriminated governments. He claimed that public records show that Serbian officials had been employed at the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning since January 5, 2016, but that none of them had complied with their contracts from the first day. Throughout that period, according to him, they were absent from work and never fulfilled the legal obligations arising from their employment, although each had recently received a monthly salary of more than 2,000 euros.

Qarri said official statistics show that 469,885 euros was paid in 2025 alone to these fictitiously employed Serbs and members of Serbian terrorist organizations banned by law in Kosovo. The amount was about 2,000 euros per month for each person, although there had never been any evidence that they reported to work or consistently carried out any practical duties. He emphasized that this issue had also been identified in previous years in the National Audit Office’s report, but the necessary measures had not been taken to stop this serious misuse and the payment of salaries with Kosovo taxpayers’ money.

He said that, of the 61 members of the Serbian minority employed by the MESPI in January 2016, at least 20 were publicly known as members of the so-called Serbian “Civil Protection.” According to Qarri, they had operated openly since 2012 within parallel Serbian municipalities and Serbia’s organized illegal structures in Kosovo.

Qarri added that their uninterrupted absences from the day they were hired and their failure to perform their duties prompted MESPI Minister Fitore Pacolli, following a recommendation from the National Audit Office, to definitively terminate the contracts of at least 20 officials. He described them as former members of banned Serbian terrorist organizations, including the so-called “Civil Protection,” and said the terminations occurred after more than 11 years because they had not reported to work since their first day, January 5, 2016.

The analyst sought clarification as to why Kosovo’s institutions acted only now, when these officials’ absences and payments had continued for more than a decade.

He said these individuals had been employed by the ministry in 2016 under the Brussels Agreement but had not spent a single minute at work over a period of more than 11 years. Nevertheless, according to Qarri, they had continued to receive salaries without any basis and in a completely unlawful manner from the state of Kosovo. For this reason, he asked why the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning had decided only now, in implementation of the National Audit Office’s recommendations, to terminate the contracts of individuals who had been unlawfully privileged throughout this period.

Qarri said the decision was entirely reasonable and appropriate because it was intended to stop salaries being paid to people who were listed as employees only formally but had never worked, made no effective contribution and harmed the state budget.

He publicly called on Kosovo’s institutions, following the recommendations of the National Audit Office, to also review other cases involving former members of Serbia’s parallel structures who are listed “on paper” as employees of Kosovo’s public administration.

According to him, some of these individuals not only never worked but were active in Serbia’s illegal institutions and parallel structures and participated in the most serious criminal and terrorist acts against Kosovo. Despite this, they received and may still continue to receive salaries from the state institutions of the Republic of Kosovo.

Qarri called for these cases to be addressed without delay and for payments to all individuals who had failed to fulfill their employment obligations to be stopped.

He said such contracts should be suspended urgently and unlawful payments halted immediately. According to him, since 2016 there have also been egregious cases in which former members of banned Serbian terrorist organizations, such as the so-called “Civil Protection” and the so-called “Northern Brigade,” were employed. Qarri raised suspicions that their members, while continuing to roam around Serbia, may still be receiving salaries from the state institutions of the Republic of Kosovo.

The analyst stressed that such actions are unjust, have seriously damaged transparency and accountability in Kosovo, and constitute a criminal offense. He called for all those responsible, including those who allowed or silently overlooked the issue over the years, to be brought urgently to justice and receive the punishment they deserve.

In conclusion, Qarri called for a full investigation into payments made to individuals who were listed as employees only in official records without making any contribution to Kosovo’s institutions.

He said these fictitiously employed Serbian officials had never been seen at their workplaces and had never contributed to Kosovo. According to him, they included members of terrorist organizations such as the so-called “Civil Protection” and the so-called “Northern Brigade,” which had been formed to act against the country.

Qarri recalled that, for this reason, the Kosovo government declared them terrorist organizations in June 2023 and banned their activities in the country by law. Because the ban took effect immediately, according to him, not only the payments but any further activity by them should have resulted in serious legal consequences.

He concluded his comments to “Bota sot” by saying that, despite this obligation, the payments had not been stopped until now. For this reason, Qarri called for someone to be placed urgently in the dock and punished in accordance with the law for the unprecedented irresponsibility that had been allowed to persist for all these years in Kosovo.