The Priština authorities, spearheaded by the Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, have mounted a campaign of shutting down everything related in any way to Serbia, under the guise of a file verification process at their Company Registration Agency (ARBK). Telekom Serbia has found itself a target of this attack, despite the fact that its subsidiary MTS d.o.o (Ltd.) conducts business in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija adhering to all the legislation and international agreements. On 4 August, ARBK made the decision to revoke the MTS d.o.o. licence, which prompted Telekom Serbia, as the owner of MTS d.o.o., to call this action legally groundless and contravening the principles of the rule of law and the existing agreements between Belgrade, Priština, and the EU.
Testifying to Priština’s move being entirely inexplicable by all the standards according to which business is conducted in ordered societies is the indisputable fact that MTS has been operating there for nearly a decade without any problems whatsoever. The requirements for registering and removing a company are regulated by law, and it is not stipulated anywhere that a personal document is the basis for company removal, which is what Kurti is using in this attempt to shut down MTS. Furthermore, personal documents are identification papers which are used in ordered societies to ascertain whether a holder of such a document is indeed that person. By way of a reminder, Kosovo and Metohija can be entered using Serbian passports and ID cards.
International community alerted
Telekom has alerted the general public and the international community that ARBK’s action is based “on an entirely absurd explanation according to which a company management member has a passport issued by the Republic of Serbia, although the official documentation contains the documents of the temporary institutions which are used by all the members of our management, in line with the Brussels Agreement.”
“A question can be raised as to by what sort of logic a company is shut down because one of the management members, according to groundless criteria, has alleged deficiencies in his personal documents. MTS d.o.o. was founded in full alignment with the Brussels Agreement on Telecommunications (8 September 2013) and is a company fully owned by Telekom Serbia, operating as such for nearly a decade. Contrary to the speculations of various media companies regarding the potential shutdown of MTS, we would like to point out that the decision in question is still unenforceable. We have a 30-day deadline to lodge a complaint with the ARBK, which we intend to do. Telekom Serbia will do everything to protect the interests of all the citizens in Kosovo and Metohija who use our services, as well as over 250 of our staff,” Telekom said in a statement.
Reviewing the documentation contested by Priština, Kurir has been convinced that the anomaly that the Priština administration is using to oust MTS is a complete fabrication. This is yet another absurdity in a long series of absurdities surrounding this attempt at shutting down MTS in Kosovo and Metohija, and it reveals the intention of Priština’s authorities to close down a company without a court ruling, which is inconceivable by the European standards and impossible in any ordered society.
Kurti shutting down opposition media
It is an interesting fact that Kurti used the same principle to try to shut down the Klan Kosova media company, which is considered to be an opposition media outlet, but this outlet was saved owing to the pressure of the general public, who were relentlessly pointing out Kurti’s legal violence.
As it was forced to face absurd bureaucratic challenges and not a courtroom, MTS is going through a challenging appeals process. The administrative procedure will be reviewed in the second instance, and there will be no further mandatory delay, as a result of which the decision on the shutdown will be enforceable prior to any court review.
The Chief Executive Officer of Telekom Serbia, Vladimir Lučić, has also announced a legal battle, visiting the MTS branch in Kosovska Mitrovica. He said that Telekom Serbia has enough power to alert to this issue all those who can help, and that he is more than certain that it can be defended and that not everything can be achieved by force. As Lučić noted, Telekom has operations in ten countries – from Germany to North Macedonia and Turkey, that there are no problems anywhere, and that Telekom has already become a big European operator.
“We will not allow anyone here to shut us down by violating elementary rights because, if you were to go down that path, you have to know that Telekom would eventually win. Any damage that we may suffer, resulting from the use of force, would mean substantial punitive damages, and I am fully convinced of everyone’s reasonable approach here, that reason will prevail, and that elementary legal norms will be adhered to,” Lučić remarked.
Kurir.rs
