SPAK has reacted to the investigations against Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj on corruption charges. In a statement, SPAK announced that there is concrete evidence of 4 charges related to this matter.
SPAK’s suspicions are for the criminal offenses of “Passive corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials”, “Active corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials”, “Laundering of proceeds of crime or criminal activity” and “Refusal to declare, failure to declare, concealment or false declaration of assets, private interests of elected officials and public servants, or of any other person who has a legal obligation to declare”.
Yesterday, Veliaj testified for more than 5 hours at SPAK, while during his time there, democrat Belind Këlliçi was also called. SPAK previously conducted searches at Veliaj’s home, while the latter was not in Albania, and seized the cell phone of his wife, Ajola Xoxa.
SPAK’s response:
In response to your interest, we inform you: Based on the information for the referral of the criminal offense dated 08.02.2024- compiled by investigators of the National Bureau of Investigation (BKH), the Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime has registered Criminal Proceeding no. 27/2024, which initially concerns the criminal offense: “Passive corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials” provided for by Article 260 of the Criminal Code.
The information for the referral of the criminal offense was triggered by a report made by a citizen self-identified as N.A. The BKH investigators, after verifying the data and administering the documentary evidence, referred the relevant information for the criminal offense, on the basis of which the above criminal proceeding was registered. Up to this stage of the preliminary investigation, from the evidence collected, it has been concluded that there is concrete data, which is related not only to the criminal offense provided for by Article 260 of the Criminal Code, but also to the criminal offenses: “Active corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials” provided for by Article 245, “Laundering of the proceeds of a criminal offense or criminal activity” provided for by Article 287/2 of the Criminal Code and “Refusal to declare, failure to declare, concealment or false declaration of assets, private interests of elected persons and public servants, or of any other person who has a legal obligation to declare” provided for by Article 257/a, paragraph 2 of the Code. Criminal.
These offenses are now also reflected in the Registry of Criminal Offenses Notifications at the Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime.
