Wrote: Etrit Rexhepi
The United States Department of Justice has released more than three million pages of files related to Jeffrey Epstein. The documents contain references to US President Donald Trump and other powerful figures, including Elon Musk, Bill Clinton and a former White House adviser to former President Barack Obama (see here).
It has been reported in Albanian language media articles that these documents also mention two former presidents of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga and Behgjet Pacolli (see here, here and here).
This article reflects in what context the names of Atifete Jahjaga and Behgjet Pacolli are mentioned in these documents, what the emails circulating online really show, and whether these mentions constitute evidence of any connection to the Epstein case.
Who was Jeffrey Epstein?
Jeffrey Epstein was an American financier, convicted of sexual abuse and trafficking of minors, known for his social connections with powerful political, economic and public figures. He was arrested in 2019 and died in prison in New York on August 10 of that year, while awaiting trial on new charges of sex trafficking. Earlier, in 2008, Epstein had avoided a serious federal sentence through a deal with prosecutors, despite dozens of accusations from underage victims. After his death, his former partner Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in the recruitment and sexual exploitation of underage girls. Documents released by US authorities have shed light on his social circle, but the mention of the names of public figures in these materials does not automatically imply criminal involvement (see here).
Kosovo politicians mentioned in these files
According to Albanian-language media reports in Kosovo, the published files of the late American financier Epstein mention two former presidents of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga and Behgjet Pacolli.
In one of the emails sent to Epstein's address, the president of Kosovo is mentioned.
The content of this email
"The Princess from Thailand will be in New York at the United Nations with the President of Kosovo, she would like to meet you"
This email does not mention the president's name, but because it was sent on September 16, 2012, media reports implied that it was about Jahjaga, who held the position of president at the time (see here).
The other email sent by Daniel Siad to Epstein's address is titled "Who is Behgjet Pacolli?", to which a link to a video on Youtube was also attached.
It says "Hi Jeffrey, the princess would like you to watch this video.".
This email also appears to have been sent in September 2012.
What did Jahjaga and Pacolli say?
Both former presidents of the country have denied having known or met Epstein. Jahjaga, through a post on her Facebook account, said that reports linking her name to the “Epstein” file are baseless and untrue, emphasizing that she has never had any acquaintance, meeting or contact with Jeffrey Epstein. According to her, the mention of the name is only related to an electronic correspondence of third parties, which does not prove any personal or institutional connection, while her name does not appear in any official published document (see here).
While former Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Pacolli denied having heard of Epstein, in a response to the medium "koha.net", saying that, "I have never met, nor communicated, nor have I ever been to his properties. I am only now hearing about his existence." (see here).
Additional facts
The contents of these emails mentioned a person referred to as a "princess." From media reports and the email mentioning former President Pacolli, it appears that she is Mom Luang Rajadarsri Jayankura, a member of the royal family in Thailand.
The "koha.net" article shows that she often, in emails and other correspondence with Epstein, is introduced as the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Kosovo in Thailand (see here).
Hibrid.info found that even on her official social media account "Instagram", she refers to herself as the successor of King Rama IV, as the Honorary Consul of Kosovo and has "Mabetex", the name of the company founded by Behgjet Pacolli (see here and here).
Because both of these emails were sent in September 2012, hibrid.info has researched the Facebook accounts of the two former presidents for their activity during this period.
Based on the posts there, it was found that both Jahjaga as president and Pacolli as deputy prime minister were in New York during the week of the annual session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 2012.
The posts show that during their stay they held separate meetings with leaders of different countries. The only time they were found to have stood next to each other was at the joint meeting (September 24, 2012) of Kosovo's state leaders with Ban Ki Moon, the former UN Secretary General at the time, a photo posted on the account of former Deputy Prime Minister Pacolli (see here).
While in a post by Behgjet Pacolli, it was found that in a meeting (September 22, 2012) with the representative of Singapore at the UN, he was accompanied by Luang Rajadarasri (princess) to whom he referred as the honorary consul of Kosovo in Thailand (see here).
In Jahjaga's posts during this period, no photograph was found showing him in the presence of Luang Rajadarasri (see here and here).
Some programmers have created Jmail, a Gmail clone that allows people to read Jeffrey Epstein's emails as if they had logged into his account directly. The project came about after the release of documents containing emails by the House Oversight Committee, which were difficult to analyze in their original format. Jmail organizes the emails in a Gmail-like interface, making them easier to search and read (see here).
So far, there are no reports of other political figures from Kosovo who may have been involved in these published communications, while English-language media reports have reported that Bill and Hillary Clinton have agreed to testify in Congressional investigations into this matter (see here).