Witness in Nagip Krasniqi's case: We were instructed to trade energy with unlicensed companies

The Basic Court in Pristina continued hearing witnesses today in the case against the former CEO of the Kosovo Energy Corporation (KEK), who is accused of abuse of official duty.

The next witness heard today was the senior expert for market analysis and energy trading at KEK, Hasan Kerolli, who indicated that despite the Energy Regulatory Office's notification to cease energy trading with any company that is not licensed in Kosovo and Albania, the Kosovo Energy Corporation has continued trading electricity with Holding Slovenske Elektrane, which was not licensed in Kosovo or Albania. The defendant Nagip Krasniqi was present at today's hearing.

"Until 2022, we have continued with companies that were registered in Kosovo and that had licenses from the respective European countries. Until 2022, we have not received any notification from ERO that it is prohibited or anything that we can do with these companies that have licenses in Kosovo, Albania and European countries in 2022. I was not involved in the email, but the Office for Tariffs and Regulatory Affairs, which has had communication and has with ERO, has received the notification to stop trading with all companies that are not registered in Kosovo or that do not have a license that has a memorandum of cooperation with Albania. Then, the director of the Office for Tariffs and Regulatory Affairs addressed ERO and requested that it notify which companies are licensed for KEK to continue trading, then the notification came from ERO and notified that you can only trade with companies that are licensed in Kosovo or Albania," emphasized Kerolli.

He indicated that the Office for Tariffs and Regulatory Affairs within KEK had contacted ERO regarding which companies were allowed to trade energy and after receiving a response from Edmond Nulleshi, they were told to continue trading with all companies as they had been doing until that time.

Interested in who the companies were that did not have a license in Kosovo and Albania, Kerolli said that it was the Slovenian company HSE (Holding Slovenske Elektrane) which had a license from a European country.

"After receiving the notification from ERO, I sent a notification to the operating director, whom I had as a director in the organizational scheme, Luigj Imeri, Edmond Nulleshi was also involved, as well as the chief executive Nagip Krasniqi, director Kujtim Hoxha, colleague Graniti was based on the hierarchy and I asked how to act after the notification from ERO with large companies that do not have a license in Kosovo and Albania, then I received a response from Edmond Nulleshi because during that time he was replacing the director, Luigj Imeri, for trading issues. In this case, he instructed us to continue trading with all companies as we have been doing so far until the next notification... 15/33 It was the Slovenian company HSE (Holding Slovenske Elektrane)... 16'35 We continued trading until a year later when the fine came after ERO then director Luigji had made a decision to terminate all trading with companies that "They are not licensed in Kosovo or Albania," he said.

Asked by special prosecutor Dren Paca whether KEK CEO Nagip Krasniqi was informed of these decisions to trade with companies that are not licensed in Kosovo, witness Hasan Kerolli claimed that the accused Krasniqi was also informed of this, as he was involved in the email communications that were made.

Meanwhile, when asked whether electricity was traded with the Slovenian company HSE even after the termination of the contract, Kerolli denied this.

Witness Hasan Kerolli, when asked by the prosecutor who made the selection of operators for energy purchases during 2022, said that until 2021 the selection was made by the operating director, but from December 2021 until January 1, 2, 3, 2023 the selection was made by the CEO of KEK, Nagip Krasniqi.

"Until December 2021, when we started purchasing energy, the operating director mainly did it, then in December until January 1, 2, 3, the selection of winners for the purchase of energy was carried out in most cases by the chief executive, then the role passed back to the operating director," stated Kerolli.

Virtyt Ibrahimaga, the lawyer of the accused, Nagip Krasniqi, also asked questions about the senior expert for market analysis and energy trading at KEK, Hasan Kerolli.

Among other things, he was interested in knowing exactly when they had received information from the Energy Regulatory Office to prohibit dealing with unlicensed companies in Kosovo or Albania. The witness said that unofficially this happened at the end of May 2022.

"Unofficially, I don't know if it was at the end of May, verbally, at the end of May 2022 we received a notification from ERO to stop trading and in June there was the email that Kujtimi sent and within a day there was the response from ERO," he stated.

Defense attorney Ibrahimaga asked to know in what period the contract between the Electricity Corporation and the Slovenian company HSE for energy reporting was signed.

Kerolli indicated that even before 2018, KEK had shown electricity to the Slovenian company, but that during 2018 new contracts were signed with several companies, including HSE.

"KEK had a contract with HSE even before 2018, but after 2018, when we started trading energy, the contracts were updated due to data," he emphasized.

Asked by Krasniqi's lawyer whether Value Added Tax must be paid when electricity is purchased at the border, the witness said that VAT is not paid in such cases.

The previous hearing for the judicial review in the Nagip Krasniqi case failed after witness Skënder Muqolli was absent, citing health problems.

On July 3, 2025, Nagip Krasniqi pleaded not guilty before the Basic Court in Pristina to charges of abuse of official duty, at the start of the trial for the first indictment against him.

The Special Prosecution alleges that Krasniqi enabled the Slovenian company "Holding Slovenske Elektrane" (HSE) to trade energy without a license in Kosovo, causing damage to the state of around 3.2 million euros. /KP/