Seized Assets Agency warehouse filled with luxury cars, prosecutors criticized

The warehouse of the Agency for the Administration of Seized and Confiscated Assets is already overflowing with vehicles whose value is gradually decreasing due to depreciation.

The value of a car in the warehouse of the Agency for the Administration of Seized Assets, on the market currently exceeds 200 thousand euros.

That car is among about 450 others waiting in the warehouse of the Agency for the Administration of Seized and Confiscated Assets, as they are suspected of having been obtained illegally.

But, their value is declining in this repository due to long-term retention and institutional inaction.

"The value of all these assets in this warehouse, there are close to 450 different vehicles that are stored here and in Smrekonica, their total value according to the assessment at the time of receipt is 2 million and 600 thousand euros, but from the actual value I am convinced that it is not even 1 million because they have all been depreciated due to the long stay and the normal depreciation rate, it is fixed at 13%, which is the value of the depreciation of the vehicles...", Fadil Bunjaku, acting director of the Agency, told TV Dukagjinin.

The acting director of this Agency says that due to the high number of seized vehicles, they had to seek help for new spaces.

"Depending on the assets, their storage is also done, immovable assets are of course administered where they are, movable assets are placed in a warehouse, in this warehouse. But we also have some of them, we have them in the Smrekonica correctional center because the capacities here are simply overwhelmed and they have come to our aid, they have offered us some of the heavier equipment that we have there currently arranged," added Bunjaku.

Recently, prosecutors have been criticized for continuing to damage the state budget by not requiring the sale of seized assets in cases where criminal offenses are suspected.

"Unfortunately, it is not working precisely with prosecutors and judges of cases. Based on the 2017 memorandum that was signed with the Chief State Prosecutor, the KPK and the KJC, the prosecutor is obliged to make a request for the sale of the property that is believed to be losing value in addition to the seizure order during the seizure phase and the countervalue to be stored in the account of the agency, which is the CBK, and at the end of the procedures, if it is decided to return it to the owner, the full amount is returned to the owner, if it is finally confiscated, the money goes to the state..," Bunjaku continued.

The Agency for the Administration of Seized and Confiscated Assets also has under its administration around 4 million euros in cash that has been seized and is held at the Central Bank of Kosovo.