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The affair continues/ KLP paves the way to the Tirana Prosecutor's Office for the fourth family member of the socialist MP

2023-06-27 16:19:27, Denoncim CNA

The affair continues/ KLP paves the way to the Tirana Prosecutor's Office

The High Council of Prosecution, KLP approved on Tuesday, June 27, with 10 votes of the members present, the draft acts for the ranking of candidates for three vacant positions in the Prosecutor's Office of Tirana, where in all three cases the prosecutor of Vlora, Eranda, was ranked first on the list. Felay.

She is the sister and fourth member of the family of the deputy of the Socialist Party, Ermonela Felaj, who is expected to be appointed to the Prosecutor's Office of Tirana.

During the last four years, three family members of MP Felaj have already been appointed to the Prosecutor's Office of Tirana. In March 2019, the KLP decided to appoint as a prosecutor in Tirana through a controversial procedure the husband of the deputy, Bledar Valikaj, without first going through the vetting process. Just a few months later, in May 2019, the General Prosecutor's Office selected, after a competitive procedure, the deputy's brother, Armando Felaj, as a judicial police officer in the Prosecutor's Office of Tirana. At the plenary meeting on May 29, the draft act was approved for the transfer of the latter's wife, Alma Felaj, from the Prosecutor's Office of Durrës to that of Tirana.

The approval of the ranking of Felaj first in the list of candidates for the three vacant positions in the Prosecutor's Office of Tirana was carried out after discussions among the members of the KLP. Member Sokol Stojani noted that the brother, brother-in-law and sister-in-law of prosecutor Eranda Felaj have already been appointed to the Tirana Prosecutor's Office.

"I am concerned that four family members in one prosecutor's office is 'too much'," he said.

"We are dealing with many people within the family. my concern is the perception that is created that a family exercises its function in an institution", added Stojani.

A family affair: KLP adds relatives of the SP deputy to the Prosecutor's Office of Tirana
May 29, 22:39

Asked by the chairman of the KLP, Alfred Balla, if the concern was moral or legal, Stojani remarked that from a formal point of view there can be no problems, but it should be seen from a wider perspective.

"If you place four family members in a smaller prosecutor's office like that of Kukes or any other prosecutor's office, then it affects all state structures and private entities," said Stojani, presenting a possible situation based on this practice.

"Let's stop a little wider. With the competence that the prosecutor has today, they become very powerful", continued Stojani, although he emphasized that he agreed with the maximum evaluation of Eranda Felaj.

The rapporteur of the draft acts, Eloida Goxhi, said that Felaj has submitted the form regarding the lack of environmental incompatibility to the Prosecutor's Office of Tirana. Although she admitted that Stojani's concern remains, she noted that it is the legal definition that allows the candidacy and the continuation of the appointment procedure.

"We have nothing to do", she said.

Member Nurihan Seiti also expressed that she shared the same concern.

"They are a family tree. They know, but how do they make the request when they know they have relatives there", Seiti was asked.

Member Bujar Sheshi found that the legal changes of 2021 have made such a thing possible.

"Before, it categorically forbade it", he emphasized.

In conclusion, it was decided that the discussion on this issue will continue at the moment of the approval of the draft act for the transfer of prosecutor Eranda Felaj to the capital.

The Law "On the Status of Judges and Prosecutors in the Republic of Albania", adopted in 2016 as part of the judicial reform, addressed nepotism in justice institutions in the environmental incompatibility clause - calling on the Supreme Judicial Council and the of the Prosecution to avoid close ties between magistrates. but, the legal changes categorized as close family ties the spouse, cohabitant or relatives of the magistrate up to the second degree, avoiding from environmental incompatibility the relationships of the second degree krushki that the original law defined, referring to the Code of Civil Procedure.

At the plenary meeting on Tuesday, draft acts were also approved for the ranking of candidates for positions in the prosecutor's offices of Durres, Shkodra, Fier, Vlora and Elbasan. Likewise, the appointments of 26 new magistrates were approved; evaluation reports for five prosecutors as part of the re-evaluation process, as well as the temporary head of the Berat Prosecutor's Office was appointed./ BIRN