Suspicion of misuse of Post Office stamp

The temporary Board of the Post of Kosovo shortly after the appointment has canceled the decision of the previous Board that the seal of this enterprise should be returned to the chief executive officer.

The passing of the seal to the then chief Xhevdet Smakiqi is considered contrary to the Code of Ethics and Corporate Governance. This code provides that the secretary is responsible for the seal.

However, the former chief Smakiqi justifies the request he made at the end of last year for the return of the seal to the archive with suspicions of misuse of the seal and inefficiency.

"Meanwhile, in 2020, we returned it to the archive also due to the fact that the former chairman of the Board of Public Enterprises, Mentor Arifaj, who was now deputy minister, even after he had passed the mandate when I became chief, he came and stamped documents as well why was he not a member of the Board or chairman of the temporary Board of Directors", says Smakiqi.

The approval of the former chief's request was justified by the former Chairman of the Board, Leonard Shabanaj, saying that this was done based on the law on seals in institutions.

also Arberi June 3, 2021 The chief executive officer of the Post Office is dismissed

"There was an interpretation by the responsible officials that someone from the former Board contrary to the law came and sealed documents after the end of the mandate", said Shabanaj.

However, the secretary of this enterprise, Faton Ejupi, in the meeting when the decision was made to return the seal to the chief executive, had justified the decisions that were not recorded.

"As for the decisions that have not been recorded, there are two decisions of the former Board, two minutes of the Board meeting and one record of the Audit Committee. This happened with the fault of the Board and the CA, because these are documents of the last meetings, that is, a few hours before the end of their mandate, I prepared them, but they did not come to sign them for various reasons. I have proof that I have written to you several times. Until I have completed all of them, but they have not come signed", said Ejupi.

During the time that the seal was returned to the chief and an official from the archive was appointed responsible for them, the Audit Committee of the Financial Institution, not the Bank, was established, some of the Board members were part of it.

The decision was canceled after the arrival of the new Board, considering it contrary to the CBK regulation and that the selection of members was made without prior approval by the CBK.

However, there is ambiguity regarding the issue of who should be responsible for seals in public enterprises.

While the Law on Seals and Institutions, Article 19 stipulates that the head of the institution appoints and delegates the person responsible for keeping the seal and how it is used.

also Arberi 5 Tues 2021 The Provisional Board of the Post Office elects the chief executive officer

The Code of Ethics and Corporate Governance provides that the seal of the Company shall be kept by the company secretary and shall be used only by that person for sealing official documents.

The Ministry of Economy, which monitors public enterprises, did not respond to TIME's questions regarding the issue of who should be responsible for the seals.