Swiss-based millionaire named Kosovo president

Behgjet Pacolli, a controversial Kosovo-born but Swiss-based construction millionaire, is set to be the new Kosovo president.

Pacolli is the head of the New Kosovo Alliance (AKR), one of the parties in a coalition deal signed on Saturday with Kosovo’s caretaker prime minister Hashim Thaci.

Thaci’s Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) won a third of votes in an election two months ago, but has turned to the AKR and the ethnic minority parties to form a government after three other leading parties said they would not govern the country with Thaci.

Thaci – who came under the international spotlight after an explosive report presented by Swiss senator Dick Marty in December on alleged organ-trafficking in Kosovo – will serve another term as the prime minister. The first parliament session is due on Monday but it is unclear if the cabinet and president will be voted in then.

Among the government’s main tasks with be to start talks with Serbia, as well as the 2011 budget. “From now we are ready to act,” said Pacolli, whose role will be mainly ceremonial.

Pacolli is the owner of the construction company Mabetex based in Lugano, making his fortune through contracts in Russia and Kazakhstan. Of Albanian origin, he has Swiss citizenship. He is often designated by the Kosovo press as the richest Kosovar.