SPAK comes out with an official announcement / Accusations that burden Meta, Kryemadhi and PL officials

2024-10-21 18:33:00, Aktualitet CNA

SPAK

The Special Prosecutor's Office has reacted to the arrest of the head of the Freedom Party, Ilir Meta.

SPAK announces that it has combined in one file all the proceedings for Meta, such as the ÇEZ-DIA affair, lobbying in the USA and the non-declaration of money spent on aesthetic services by the Meta couple.

SPAK announcement:

The Special Prosecutor's Office against Corruption and Organized Crime has registered, on the basis of the report of the RK citizen made to the former Serious Crimes Prosecutor's Office, criminal proceedings No. 55 of 2019. The object of the investigation of this proceeding is the corrupt actions of state officials in the conclusion and implementation of the CEZ-DIA service contract.

While the investigations into this proceeding were ongoing, based on the reports of HV and IB citizens, the Special Prosecutor's Office registered criminal proceeding no. 122 of 2022 for the criminal offense "Passive corruption of high state officials and local elected officials". Purification of proceeds of criminal offense and criminal activity", "Refusal to declare, non-declaration, concealment or false declaration of assets, private interests of elected persons and public officials, or of any person who has the legal obligation to declare", provided by articles 260 and 25, 287/2 and 257/a/2 of the Penal Code.

Following investigations, the aforementioned proceedings have been merged into a single proceeding in 2024.

From the above, several episodes have been documented where the subjects of this criminal proceeding IM and MK in cooperation with each other but also with other public officials were involved in the commission of some criminal offenses.

1- It has been proven that the former Minister of Economy, Trade and Energy, IM, used his authority and influence to interfere in the process of concluding the contract between the company "Debt International Advisory" and the company CEZ Shpërndarje. The purpose of this contract was to assist in the identification and collection of arrears.

These closely related relationships have directly influenced the selection process of DIA to perform CEZ's debt collection services, despite the fact that the company did not meet all the legal and professional criteria to manage obligations of this nature.

The "Debt International Advisory" company, through this agreement, irregularly benefited in the amount of 649,803,520 ALL, which was confirmed by a final court decision.

The investigations so far have revealed that IM has requested and received significant sums of money from Mr. KI, during the period when he held the function of the Minister, a task which included the supervision of the privatization process of CEZ and the conclusion of contracts for the collection of debts, thus consuming the elements of the criminal offense of "Passive corruption of high state officials or local elected officials", provided by article 260 of the Criminal Code.

2- From the investigations, it was found that the IM citizen, thanks to his function as Speaker of the Assembly, and his wife, MK, as a member of the Assembly, in 2014 used their influence influencing the leaders of various state institutions as well as the leaders of the mobile phone companies, with the aim of entering the fiber optic market as well as the conclusion of the interconnection agreement between the company "U... C... INC" and a private mobile phone company.

As a result of this illegal influence, the subjects under investigation IM and MK have benefited from their percentage share of the company's profit, and have been provided with credit cards by the company's administrator. The expenses made through these cards were not declared in the periodic statements of assets by the investigators.

The person under investigation P. Xh., using his authority as the President of AKEP, elected by the Parliament of Albania on the proposal of the political entity "Socialist Movement for Integration" (LSI), in implementation of the orders received from the IM and MK entities , has not only influenced the leaders of the mobile phone company for the finalization of the agreement, but on the other hand, has allowed the private company to exercise its activity in violation of the AKEP law. For these reasons, the persons under investigation IM and MK are suspected of having committed the criminal offense of "Passive corruption of high state or elected officials", in collaboration, assisted by the other person under investigation P. Xh., who is accused for the same criminal offense.

3- During the investigation, it was also found that the couple IM and MK entered into a corrupt relationship with the businessman SM, temporarily benefiting from a villa as a reward for the illegal influence they exerted on public officials appointed by LSI, in the interest of the economic activities of the bizmesmen in question. The person under investigation, MK, at the request of the businessman in question, has also undertaken the change of a law in the Parliament of Albania (the law which was changed at the request of the businessman SM).

4- During the 2016-2017 period, IM, in the capacity of Chairman of the Socialist Movement for Integration Party, has concluded and executed contracts for consultancy and lobbying services with the companies Global Security and Innovative Solution LLC and the McKeon Group Inc. in the United States of America. The investigation shows that part of the financing of the contracts was made with bank transfers from the accounts of the political entity, Socialist Movement for Integration, while the amount of USD 463,546.26 was not transferred from the bank accounts of this political entity. It also results that this amount of money, which was not transferred from the bank accounts of the political force, was not reflected in the balance sheets of the political entity Socialist Integration Movement, deposited with the Central Election Commission.

5- For the period 2009-2010, by the persons under investigation, IM, MK and FK, a duplex apartment located in the area known as "former block", declared as financed with a bank loan, was purchased. The investigation showed that the amount of 310,000 Euros used for the purchase of the first floor of the duplex was poured into the banking system by FK, and the amount of 335,000 Euros received from the loan from FK was also repaid with money deposited in the bank of second level in the Republic of Albania, in March-November 2010. This money is suspected to have originated from the illegal activity of IM and MK citizens, and the bank loan was used as a cover and a way to introduce significant monetary sums into the banking system.

6- The investigation showed that the citizens of IM and MK did not declare the medical expenses incurred during the period 2013-2019, in the total value of 106,125 Euros. Of these expenses, 86,891 Euros were paid in cash. The investigations have revealed that in the declaration of Annual Private Interests for the year 2019, submitted to ILDKPKI on May 29, 2020, these subjects did not declare health expenses in the amount of 9,000 Euros carried out in a private clinic abroad as well as the amount of 100,000 Euros in the bank account in two names, which belong to EM and FK. The entities IM and MK are suspected of having committed the criminal offense of "Refusal to declare, non-declaration, concealment and false declaration of assets, private interests of elected persons and public servants" provided for by Article 275/a of the Criminal Code.

The Special Prosecutor's Office has conducted investigations within the framework of criminal proceedings no. 55 of 2019 (sent for competence by the Prosecution for Serious Crimes), 122 of 2022 (registered on the basis of the report of the citizen IB), 125 of the year 2022 (registered on the basis of the report of the citizen HV), 165 of the year 2022 (registered on the basis of the report of the citizen IB), which have been joined in a single proceeding, being numbered criminal proceeding no. 55/2019.

After carrying out numerous investigative actions and analysis of the evidence, on 09.10.2024 the Special Prosecutor's Office addressed the Special Court of First Instance for Corruption and Organized Crime with the request to assign security measures to four citizens.

With decision no. 125 dated 20.10.2024, the Special Court of First Instance has decided:

1. Assigning the measure of personal security "Arrest in prison" provided by article 238 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, to the person under IM investigation, suspected of committing criminal offenses; "Passive corruption of high state officials or local elected officials" in 3 (three) cases, of which in two cases it was carried out in cooperation, "Cleaning of the proceeds of a criminal offense or criminal activity" carried out in cooperation and more than one times, and "Refusal to declare, non-declaration, concealment or false declaration of assets, private interests of elected persons and public servants, or of any person who has the legal obligation to declare" provided by articles 260 and 25, 287/2 and 257/a/2 of the Penal Code.

2. Assigning the measure of personal security "Compulsion to appear before the judicial police" provided by article 234 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, to the person under investigation, MK, suspected of committing criminal offenses; "Passive corruption of high state officials or local elected officials" in 2 (two) cases and in cooperation, "Cleaning of the proceeds of a criminal offense or criminal activity" carried out in cooperation, and "Refusal to declare, non-declaration, concealment or declaration false assets, private interests of elected persons and public servants, or of any person who has the legal obligation to declare" provided by articles 260 and 25, 287/2 and 257/a/2 of the Penal Code.

3. The assignment of the measure of personal security "House arrest" provided by article 237 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, to the person under investigation P. Xh. suspected of committing the criminal offense "Passive corruption of high state officials or local elected officials", committed in cooperation, provided by articles 260 and 25 of the Criminal Code.

4. The assignment of the measure of personal security "Compulsion to appear before the judicial police" provided by article 234 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, to the person under investigation E. Ç., suspected of committing the criminal offense of "Cleaning the products of the offense criminal or criminal activity" carried out in cooperation provided by article 287/2 of the Criminal Code.

On 20.10.2024, the Special Prosecutor's Office ordered the General Directorate of the State Police to execute the security measures determined by decision no. 125 dated 20.10.2024. The State Police has executed today on 21.10.2024 the above security measures against four persons under investigation.

Investigations continue with the administration of evidence regarding the implication of other persons suspected of being involved in this illegal criminal activity.

We take the opportunity to thank the General Directorate of the State Police as well as the law enforcement authorities of the United States of America, Austria, Italy, San Marino, Cyprus for the help and cooperation shown.