Press Release

On the initiative of the General Prosecutor and with the support of the Minister of Interior and Minister of Finance, who are the leaders of the main institutions in the fight against corruption presented the opportunities to face this national challenge.

In a meeting initiated by the General Prosecutor, in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior, the leaders of the main institutions responsible for combating corruption, discussed to further strengthen cooperation and coordination for proactive investigations.

In this extended conversation where it was discussed on concrete measures to cope with the common challenge against corruption, participated the General Prosecutor, Mr. Adriatik Llalla, the Minister of Interior, Mr. Saimir Tahiri; the Minister of Finance, Mr. Shkëlqim Cani, the the Director General of Police, Mr. Artan Didi; Director General of the National Intelligence Service, Mr. Visho Ajazi Lika; the Director of Tax Investigation, Mr. Ahmet Prençi; the Director General of Customs, Ms. Elisa Spiropali; the Director General of Customs, Mr. Arthur Zoto; Director General of the Directorate of Prevention of Money Laundering, Mr. Gent Gazheli; Chief Inspector of the National Urban Construction Inspectorate, Ms. Dallëndyshe Bici; Chief Inspector of Electricity Distribution Operator, Mr. Arben Seferi, as well as representatives of the State Supreme Audit and the High Inspectorate of Declaration and Audit of Assets and Conflict of Interest.

In his speech, the General Prosecutor of Albania, Mr. Llalla, said that "we all are conscious that anti-corruption is a national challenge and our institutions have a direct responsibility to cope with it. For the Prosecution of Albania, this meeting serves to reaffirm the common will to fight corruption".

By presenting the General Prosecution Office's vision for a further attendance and strengthening on the fight against corruption, Mr. Llalla said: "We should emphasize that all institutions have a significant increase of the reference materials in Prosecution. This testifies the growing of institutions awareness to identify cases of corruption and abuse of office. In the long series of referrals, of course there are qualitative materials, investigation of which have been completed or are in the final stage.

On the other hand, there are also materials that do not meet the procedural elements to launch an investigation, materials that affect the fictional growth of the prosecutors work. Prosecution considers necessary, at this preliminary stage, the initial discussion about the quality of information. For this reason, we have expressed and we are reaffirming it today that we are willing to offer our expertise to each institution in the preparation of predicate materials. Obviously, the Prosecution Office does not intend to affect institutional initiative in order to refer the material. But we see more necessary that, for information, in which there is not distinguished clearly the criminal offense, to be discussed in advance. We think that this would be a very important step, which will affect further investigation.
Also, it has been asked to the prosecutors to be more active in communication, during of the investigation phases, with the judicial police officers in the institutions that have such structures or with the contacts in other agencies. According to our assessment, the direct involvement of officers and contacts during the investigation helps investigative work. On the other hand, the direct communication with the prosecutor during the investigation helps officers and the contacts to understand more clearly, what is the proper procedural way to refer the materials and to follow them, until the file to be forwarded to the court.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Interior, Mr. Tahiri, expressed the importance of amending the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2009, between several institutions, for the establishment and operation of Units Task Force against corruption. Minister of Interior also proposed the establishment of a technical working group to explore the possibilities of drafting a Memorandum of Understanding for a fast exchange of information in cases of investigations. Also, Mr. Tahiri emphasized that “must be built the catalogue of success, to convey the message that no one will enjoy the wealth acquired unlawfully.

Minister of Finance, Mr. Shkelqim Cani, expressing his agreement associated with the amendment of the Memorandum of Understanding and the establishment of a technical working group, also expressed the importance of exchanging information between institutions to strengthen proactive investigation.

To make more concrete, mainly for general information on matters that require fast coordination between institutions, were discussed by the Director General of the National Intelligence Service, Mr. Visho Ajazi Lika; Director General of Taxation, Ms. Elisa Spiropali, as well as General Director of Prevention of Money Laundering, Mr. Salim Gazheli.
Also, the representatives of the Supreme State Control and High Inspectorate of Declaration and Audit of Assets and Conflicts of Interest, as well as leaders of INUK and OSHE, expressed their maximum willingness to continue the inter-institutional cooperation.

Date 21/11/2014