UN investigates deputy head of Kosovo mission

28/09/2007

During a press conference this week, Steven Schook said he is under investigation for inappropriately close ties with Kosovo officials — including UN war crimes indictee Ramush Haradinaj — and other alleged misconduct.

By Blerta Foniqi-Kabashi for Southeast European Times in Pristina - 28/09/07

UNMIK deputy chief Steven Schook confirmed on Wednesday (September 26th) that he is under investigation by the UN’s Internal Oversight Office for possible misconduct. He said that while the office has not informed him personally about the probe, he has become aware of it because of interviews conducted with members of his staff.

“According to the information I’ve managed to gather, the probe pertains to my alleged aggressive behaviour, unprofessionalism and close relationships with Energy Minister Ethem Ceku and former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, and extends to personal relationships I supposedly had with some women from Kosovo and those working with the UNMIK mission,” Schook told reporters.

His comments came during what he described as a personal press conference. He stressed that he was not representing any official UNMIK stance.

“The first thing I’m guilty of is loving my job,” Schook said. “The second thing is being extremely passionate about what I do and doing it to the best of my ability, not acting like a diplomat, being determined to get things done, making friends and making enemies, having a low tolerance for anything that stops Kosovo from getting better, supporting elections and open lists, supporting Project C as a key to the future economic prosperity of Kosovo and as a part of that supporting everyone in the Project Steering Committee including its chairman, Minister Ethem Ceku.”

He said he had great respect for Haradinaj’s performance as prime minister and his “exemplary co-operation” with the UN war crimes tribunal, which indicted him in March 2005. Schook ruled out the possibility of stepping down, and insisted that he would not allow the allegations to affect his responsibilities and the status process.

Reaction in Kosovo has been mixed. In an editorial published Thursday, the local daily Express deemed Schook’s press conference insulting. “Perhaps he believed that we believe what he was saying to tens of journalists,” editor-in-chief Berat Buzhala wrote.

Writing in Zeri, however, Environment and Spatial Planning Minister Ardian Gjini accused the media of declaring Schook guilty without waiting to see whether the allegations against him are true.

This content was commissioned for SETimes.com

Kosovo Minister Defends UNMIK Chief

28 09 2007 Pristina _ A Kosovo government minister has appealed to local media for fair treatment for the deputy head of the UN mission in Kosovo, who is facing an internal investigation for alleged misconduct.

Ardian Gjini, Kosovo’s Minister of Environment, reacted on Friday to the harsh media coverage that followed an announcement by Steven Schook that he was under investigation by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services, OIOS.

“People are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court. This is a right that is supposed to be defended first and foremost by civil society”, said Gjini in a reaction published in the daily, Express.

“You have made a mistake with Mr Steven Schook… with your prejudices”, Gjini told the media with reference to the American official who is number two in the UN administration in Kosovo, UNMIK.

Gjini’s intervention was addressed to the print media in particular, for their unsympathetic coverage in Thursday’s editions while reporting on Schook’s news conference at which he revealed he was facing an investigation.

“Shameful end of UNMIK” was the front-page headline in Express.

Investigators have released no details of the allegations against Schook.

However, Schook said “the probe pertains to my alleged aggressive behaviour, unprofessional and close relationships with Energy Minister Ethem Ceku and former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, and extends to personal relationships I supposedly had with some women from Kosovo and those working with the UNMIK mission.”

Haradinaj resigned as prime minister in March 2005 after he was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

It is believed that the allegations with regard to Ceku are linked to the planned construction of the “Kosovo C” power plant.

Kosovo has been administered by the UN since 1999 when NATO’s air campaign forced the Serbian authorities to withdraw from the territory.

UNMIK’s staff enjoy immunity from prosecution under the local justice system in Kosovo.

The OIOS has previously investigated UNMIK’s police mission, and founded that the administration was incapable of fighting corruption in Kosovo’s public institutions.
Read more on this: http://birn.eu.com/en/31/10/1180/

However, this is the first time that a senior UN official is being investigated in Kosovo.

http://www.birn.eu.com/en/105/15/5048/

Steven Schook unter Verdacht Drucken
Geschrieben von Alban Ademi
Donnerstag, 27. September 2007
Gestern trat der stellvertretende Leiter der UNMIK, der ehemalige US-Armee-General Steven Schook vor die Presse in Prishtina und verkündete, dass gegen ihn seitens der UN ermittelt wird. Vor allem stünde seine aggressive Führungsart, seine unprofessionellen Beziehungen mit einheimischen Politikern sowie sein freizügiger Umgang mit dem weiblichen Personal im Zielvisier der UN-Fahnder. Wortwörtlich sagte Schook: „Keiner aus dem Büro für innere Kontrolle der UN hat mit mir Kontakt aufgenommen, aber es wurde mir deutlich gemacht,

dass man gegen mich aufgrund von aggressivem Verhalten, dem unprofessionellen Umgang mit dem Minister Ethem Ceku und dem Ex-Regierungschef Ramush Haradinaj sowie den privaten Beziehungen zu internationalen und einheimischen Frauen während meiner Mission ermittelt wird“.

Foto: REUTERS/ HAZIR REKA Schook ist sich keiner Schuld bewusst, außer dass er seinen Job erledigt hat sagte der US-General und frühere Kommandant der SFOR-Friedenstruppen in Bosnien.In den letzten Monaten häuften sich Meldungen in den lokalen Medien in Prishtina über angebliche Ermittlungen und Verwicklungen des Steven Schook sowie von anderen UNMIK-Offiziellen in die Machenschaften der lokalen Vertretern des politischen Establishments Kosovas. Dieser Berichte wurde jedoch oft dementiert oder schlicht weg von der UNMIK ignoriert.Bestätigt man in den nächsten Tagen die Information über die Einleitung von Ermittlungsmaßnahmen gegen die zweite Person der UNMIK, so würde dies den ersten Präzedenzfall in Kosova darstellen, indem man rechtlich gegen einen hohen UN-Vertreter vorgeht.Schook betonte bei seinem kurzen, angespannten und hoch brisanten Auftritt, dass er die Information über das Ermittlungsverfahren von seinen engsten Mitarbeitern erhalten hätte, die kurz zuvor zu den Machenschaften des Herrn Schook befragt worden sind. Angenommen dies würde zutreffen, so hätten die Mitarbeiter des UN-Funktionärs ihrerseits auch gegen gesetzliche Bestimmungen verstoßen, weil sie im laufenden Ermittlungsverfahren interveniert, indem sie die Zielperson über den Ermittlungsgegenstand benachrichtigt haben. Des Weiteren ist hervorzuheben, dass Ex-General Steven Schook kein einziges Wort über einen möglichen Rücktritt oder Niederlegung des Amtes bis zur Klärung des Sachverhalts verlor
Quelle:
RTK
Balkanweb
Anmerkung der Redaktion: Steven Schook, der Stellvertreter des UNMIK Bosses Jochaim Rücker, hat zwischenzeitlich gegenüber anderen Medien seinen Rücktritt grundsätzlich ausgeschlossen.

Kosovo Aktuell

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