The appeal returns the case against Pal Lekaj for the "53 million" to retrial

Former Minister of Infrastructure, Pal Lekaj, will be subject to a retrial after the Appeals Chamber found procedural violations and a lack of reasoning in the first instance verdict in the case known as the “53 million affair”. According to the Appeals Chamber’s decision, the Constitutional Court failed to clearly explain the legal basis for sentencing Lekaj and three former Ministry officials to a total of 10 years and 3 months in prison, making the verdict legally untenable.

Over a year after the first instance court issued a guilty verdict, the Court of Appeals decided on Thursday to retry the criminal case against former Minister of Infrastructure, Pal.

Lekaj and three of his subordinates, for abuse of office during the construction of the "Arbën Xhaferri" highway.

The Basic Court in Pristina had decided on January 31, 2024, that Lekaj be sentenced to three years and 8 months in prison for the case that became known as the “53 million affair”. In addition to Lekaj, former officials of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Eset Berisha, Nebih Shatri and Besim Tahiri, are also accused in this case. The four were sentenced to a total of 10 years and three months in prison.

And according to the decision of the Appeals Chamber, the 2024 verdict contains errors in procedure and in the assessment of evidence.

"The Panel of the Court of Appeal notes that the appealed judgment does not contain in the reasons given justification on these decisive facts that also constitute the figure of the criminal offense, which are: a). Which provisions of the law on public procurement were violated that would constitute an excess of competence by the defendants," the Appeals ruling states.

also Arberi 14 May 2025 The hearing in the "53 million" case is suspended

According to the findings of the Appeal, the Basic Court in Pristina did not justify the finding that Lekaj and Berisha knowingly and intentionally abused their positions.

"In the reasoning of the judgment, the first instance court nowhere emphasizes what the defendants' powers were that as official persons constituted an excess of their authorizations, that as such those actions violated which provision of the law on public procurement, which provision of the Government's work regulations did the defendants' actions violate," the judgment states.

According to the decision, the Basic Court's judgment did not provide reasons regarding one of the decisive facts that Lekaj and Berisha ignored the opinion of the supervision company "Hill International", since the Appeal considered that the competencies of the company engaged in supervising the project are unspecified.

"The court did not clarify whether the opinion was advisory to the Ministry or binding, where the basis for the opinion being binding arises, given that the company "Hill International" results that, according to the contract, it was responsible as a company for supervising the contract and does this supervision consist of fulfilling the dynamics of the works performed and calculating payments or does it also consist of advising the competent authority, namely the Ministry," the Appeals decision states.

The company "Hill International" was contracted by the Ministry of Infrastructure, at a cost of 8.7 million euros, to oversee as a legal, financial and technical consultant the realization of the "Arbën Xhaferri" highway project and that previously no payment had been made without being certified by "Hilli".

also Arberi 7 May 2025 The trial of Lekaj and three others in the "53 million" case resumes after a week

The case known as the "53-million" in the first instance reached its epilogue on January 31, 2024. According to the Basic Court's judgment, the Government has allocated an additional 53 million euros to the company "Bechtel & Enca", which carried out the works on the Pristina-Han i Elezit highway, ignoring the opinion of "Hill..." which had concluded that only 14 million euros should be paid as compensation to the company performing the work for non-allocation of the budget in accordance with the dynamics foreseen in the basic contract for the performance of the works.

Years ago, KOHA published the opinion of the “Hill” company, which was not presented to the Committee or then to the investigation. After KOHA reported, the investigations into the case intensified and in February 2022, the Special Prosecution Office filed an indictment. The Pristina-Han i Elezit highway, named “Arbën Xhaferi”, is 55 kilometers long and its construction cost the Kosovo budget about 600 million euros.