Press Release

Prosecution Office is part of a Memorandum of Cooperation to make a full investigation of forging documents of properties, together with the Property Restitution and Compensation Agency, State Police and State Advocacy. At the signing ceremony of this agreement, held on Saturday (dated 08/29/2015) in Vlora, the General Prosecutor, Mr. Adriatik Llalla, presented the commitment of the institution he leads in the investigation of this problematic matter, which during the past two decades has brought not only criminal consequences but also civil and economic one.

Integrally, the General Prosecutor, Mr. Llalla said:
"Investigation of forged documents of property has an exceptional specific, because it is an illegality, which is stretched in two decades and requires a special commitment.
This kind of investigation has its difficulties, due to the long time, legal issues over the years and amnesties that have been adopted at different times by the Parliament.

For this reason, institutions which are signing today the Cooperation Agreement, will apply the legal mechanisms that are currently available to act in restoring legality in this matter.
Under this agreement, which was initiated by the Government, the Prosecution Office undertakes to investigate every case of forging documents to properties, regardless of when the crime was committed.

In any case the property counterfeiting, the Prosecution Office will continue to follow the legal path for the authors.
While in the case when counterfeiting is committed years ago or was pardoned by a special law, the Prosecution Office will follow two paths:

The respective investigation and expertise of property documents will take place when it is suspected to have been forged. If the counterfeiting is confirmed, then the conclusion will be made available to the parties in civil lawsuits or State Attorney's Office, in cases where the property acquired with forged documents was public. Also, the Prosecution Office will continue to investigate the criminal offense of "proceeds of crime laundering", in cases where the property acquired illegally is involved in civilian traffic, as real estate transactions, rental, etc.

Under this Agreement, the Prosecution Office will hire additional prosecutors in those Prosecution Offices, where this problem is more pronounced. The largest amount of problems in this regard has Vlora and therefore it is thought to convey the message of inter-institutional cooperation for the investigation of forging properties in this city.

Of course, it must be admitted that the investigation of these cases is a huge undertaking and requires a lot of human resources, especially the technical means to perform the expertise. Through today's agreement, the Albanian Government expresses its will that will support law enforcement institutions to carry out thorough and comprehensive investigations.

Counterfeiting of properties is an illegality, which has caused serious social, economic and often, even criminal consequences. For this reason, the Albanian Prosecution Office expresses its full commitment to pursuing these issues, which are not only a priority toward European Union, but especially to give the Albanians, what is known from ancient times, to enjoy their property.

Also, we appreciate the will of other institutions, signatories to this Agreement, cooperation with which it is very important.
Property Restitution and Compensation Agency and the State Police have the opportunity to provide information and refer any case of illegality on property to the Prosecution Office. Our institution takes over full investigation of these cases and will continue to invest also the State Attorney's Office to pursue civilly the cases when the public properties are altered. So, under this Memorandum of Cooperation, we create a convenient ground for this specific coordination, which is very necessary for the return of property rights to the citizens, to whom belong".