Kosovo’s former Minister of Infrastructure, Pal Lekaj, has been sentenced to three years and eight months in prison for abuse of official duty and damaging Kosovo’s budget.

The sentence, issued by the Basic Court in Pristina on January 31, is related to the case of the allocation of an additional 53 million euros to the “Bechtel&Enka” consortium for the construction of the “Arbën Xhaferi” highway.

The Court also imposed an additional penalty prohibiting Pal Lekaj, a member of the Kosovo Assembly, from exercising public office for a period of three years and six months.

In 2018, the Government of Kosovo allocated an additional 53 million euros to the aforementioned company for the construction works of the Pristina – Hani i Elezit highway, due to the failure of the previous executive to pay the invoices properly.

Following heated debates and suspicions raised by opposition parties, authorities in Kosovo initiated investigations into the allocation of the 53 million euros to the “Bechtel&Enka” consortium.

In 2020, the Government led by Albin Kurti repealed the previous executive’s decision to extend the contract deadline for the construction of the “Arbën Xhaferi” highway, which connects Kosovo with North Macedonia.

With this decision, the Kurti Government terminated negotiations with the Turkish-American consortium for the construction of new links and an interchange on the highway. The executive also requested the relevant departments to assess the budgetary damage caused by the repealed decision.

The Pristina-Skopje highway, named “Arbën Xhaferi”, spans 55 kilometers and its construction has cost the budget of Kosovo 600 million euros. This highway was inaugurated in 2019.