Albanian corruption court asks parliament to lift ex-deputy PMs immunity

Albania’s Special Court Against Organised Crime and Corruption (SPAK) has asked parliament for authorisation to arrest former deputy prime minister Arben Ahmetaj over a range of corruption-related charges.

Ahmetaj is currently under investigation by the prosecutor concerning the controversial incinerator affair.

According to the court notice, Ahmetaj is being investigated on suspicion of three criminal offences, including passive corruption, money laundering and false declaration with concealment of assets. He has previously been accused of abuse of office, although this was not included in the SPAK investigation.

The request to pave the way for his arrest was filed on Friday after Ahmetaj spent six hours being questioned by SPAK two weeks ago.

As for the request, it will be considered by the Council of Mandates and Immunity on Tuesday, according to the President of the Assembly, Lindita Nikolla.

The incinerators affair saw the government issue three concessions for the construction and operation of waste incinerators in Fier, Tirana, and Elbasan to a company with no experience in such matters and with no demand.

First published in Exit, investigations revealed that the contracts would see the company being paid for every day the incinerators were not burning waste, even during the construction phase. This has seen millions in taxpayers’ money be ploughed into them, to the benefit of those behind them, with nothing in the way of results.

So far, two other former government officials, Alqi Blako and Lefter Koka, have been arrested and are in prison awaiting trial.

Ahmetaj has pleaded not guilty to the charges but is the highest-ranking former official to face such charges in almost 30 years.

He was previously the head of the tax administration and then deputy prime minister during the Socialist Party government between 1997-2005. He faced corruption charges at the end of that mandate over transferring millions of euros from the then-state-owned telecoms company, Albtelecom, through fake interconnection contracts.

After being found innocent, he became the minister of the economy in 2013 and then minister of finance. Following the 2019 earthquake, he was minister of reconstruction.

(Alice Taylor | Exit.al)