PRISHTINA, 23 SEPTEMBER 2009 - The Kosovo Anti-Corruption Agency during investigations undertaken for suspected cases of corruptive actions, has encountered the phenomenon of counterfeiting of documents from several economic operator during participation in tendering procedures and therefore in many cases, these providers have managed to be the winner of several tenders. The agency has provided sufficient evidence and arguments of these cases; such information is forwarded to the competent prosecutor for further criminal proceedings.
Given that such cases are taking the concerning dimensions of the phenomenon, ACA urged all institutions of the Republic of Kosovo, including those local to demonstrate due diligence during the selection process of economic bidders in relation to their accountability and verification of authenticity and validity of documentation by which they are participating in tendering procedures.
Such a verification of the authenticity and validity of documents does not require bidders more time to prepare and it can be done within a day with the collaboration with the Kosovo Tax Administration TAK that is responsible for issuing these documents. Undertaking such an action by the institutions which deal with implementation of tendering procedures would affect a lot in the elimination of the causes of corruption.
ACA, warns that such actions seriously suffocate free and fair competition which is a key element of cultivating transparency and they also cause significant damage to Kosovo budget and weaken the credibility of institutions towards the taxpayers.
ACA, strongly expresses the determination to combat the actions of these rogue operators up to their complete avoidance of any tendering processes to which a financial source is public money.
On the other hand, ACA recommends that all institutions of the Republic of Kosovo blacklist the economic operators who are verified with invalid documents and initiate criminal offense prosecution procedures.
