Albanian former deputy MP flees Albania, hearing to lift immunity postponed

The meeting of the Council of Mandates to decide on lifting the parliamentary immunity of former deputy prime minister Arben Ahmetaj was postponed on Tuesday, and it came to light that he has left the country, likely to Canada.

Ahmetaj is accused by the Special Court of Corruption and Organised Crime of at least six counts of corruption and more than one incident of money laundering. According to the prosecution, he benefitted from almost half a million euros via the fictitious sale of real estate and fictitious invoices involving two businessmen linked to companies involved in a corrupt incinerator deal.

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 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 construction. 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.

The meeting started at 4 pm and lasted around four hours before adjourning to the same time on Wednesday. It took place in front of MPs, members of SPAK, and figures from opposition parties.

During the meeting, Ahmetaj’s lawyer admitted that the accused was not in Albania.

“Do you have information on where Ahmetaj is at this moment? Is he in Albania? Didn’t he run away to Canada? Do you have information about this?” Gazment Bardhi from the Democratic Party said during the meeting.

Sources for Euronews said that Ahmetaj’s lawyer, Henrik Ligori confirmed he is no longer in Albania. It is believed he left the country via the Greek land border last Friday morning, just a few hours before the prosecution sent the letter for his arrest to parliament.

Ahmetaj has pleaded not guilty 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)