The Basic Court in Pristina has announced an acquittal verdict for Ferid Aganin, former Minister of Health and Gani Shabanin, former secretary of this ministry, accused of corruption in the case known as "Stenta 1".
The judgment against them was announced on Monday by judge Kujtim Krasniqi, reports "Oath of Justice".
According to judge Krasniqi, it has not been proven that they have committed the criminal offense they were charged with, since the prosecutor had previously changed the disposition of the indictment.
Therefore, he said that in the absence of evidence, the accused Agani and Shabani are acquitted.
According to this judgment, the procedural costs are borne by the court.
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Otherwise, in the final speech on July 29, 2022, prosecutor Florie Shamolli changed the disposition of the indictment and did so in accordance with article 350 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and that in terms of the part where it says that "they did not subject you to the procurement law" and the value of the damage caused.
"The reason why I withdrew from the part where it says that "you have not been subject to the procurement law", we have a procurement expertise which finds that subsidies are not subject to the procurement law and this was the reason why I made the withdrawal in that part", said prosecutor Shamolli.
While, according to her, the value of the damage is not 4 million 555 thousand 553 euros, as was previously determined in the indictment, but 11 thousand 450 euros, which the prosecutor said was a lot according to the financial expert.
Otherwise, the former Minister of Health Ferid Agani and the former Secretary of the Ministry of Health (MOH), Gani Shabani, were found guilty of abuse of official position in April 2019.
Agani was sentenced to two years and six months in prison, while Shabani was sentenced to two years in prison. But after appeals, this judgment was annulled by the Court of Appeal in December 2019 and the case was returned to a first-instance retrial.
On June 15, 2016, the State Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against the former Minister of Health, Ferid Agani, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Health, Gani Shabani and 62 other persons, for the criminal offenses of "misuse of official position or authority", "taking of bribery", "giving a bribe", "unconscionable medical treatment", "illegal exercise of medical and pharmaceutical activity" and "tax evasion".
On February 26, 2018, this case was divided into three parts, so that the accused Agani and Shabani were tried separately, while over 40 doctors from public hospitals are accused in the case known as "Stenta 2", while owners and doctors of private hospitals are accused in the case of "Stenta 3".
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The former minister Agani together with the former secretary of the Ministry of Health, Gani Shabani, were accused of abusing their official position when concluding cooperation agreements with private hospitals, as well as with the allocation of funds for patients who were treated in these hospitals.
According to the indictment, which was amended in the final speech held on April 18, 2019, there is a well-founded suspicion that in the period from April 22, 2012 to December 31, 2015, the accused Agani and Shabani, acting in collusion with each other and in cooperation with the other defendants in this case, Ali Hocaoglu and Borche Petrovski and by violating the law on public procurement have misused their position.
According to the prosecution, the accused Shabani did this in the capacity of the general secretary of the Ministry of Health, by signing a cooperation agreement for the provision of health services that were not offered in public institutions.
He allegedly signed these agreements with the private hospitals International Medicine Hospital (IMH) and Intermed EDA, without announcing the tender for the provision of these services.
While, the indictment continues, the accused Agani in the capacity of the Minister of Health, it is claimed that he did not prevent the signing of these agreements even though they were contrary to the law on public procurement, however, the same had influenced the accused Shabani to be signed of theirs and after signing these agreements, they had continued to misuse their official position and authority by exceeding their powers, where they deliberately and knowingly did not take the necessary actions to supply invasive cardiology materials at KKUK, but on the contrary, in cooperation with Hocaoglun and Petrovskin, had paid the private hospitals IMH and Intermed EDA the amount of 4,555,553.00 euros.
Earlier, according to the indictment, Agani and Shabani had committed the criminal offense of misuse of official position or authority, with which they had damaged the budget of Kosovo in the amount of 4,555,553.00 euros.
Both accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charges they were charged with in the initial hearing held on February 26, 2018.
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While the "Stenta 1" case had received an epilogue in the first instance and has now returned to a retrial, the other two cases, "Stenta 2" and "Stenta 3", still remain in the first instance trial. For the "Stenta 3" case, only one hearing was held, while in the "Stenta 2" case, several hearings were held, but the case still remains at the witness hearing stage.
In this criminal case, investigations were initially carried out against 116 natural persons and 4 legal persons. However, for 56 natural persons, the legal conditions to be included in this indictment have not been met, therefore the investigations have been stopped for the same. After the indictment was filed, the prosecutor's office gave up the criminal prosecution against cardiologist Afrim Bekteshi, on the grounds that he was wrongly included in the indictment. /BpD
