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VOA: Prison arrest for Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj

Politiko 2025-02-10 15:58:15

VOA: Prison arrest for Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj

In Albania, the mayor of Trana, Erion Veliaj, was arrested this afternoon by order of the Special Prosecution Office against Organized Crime and Corruption. Judicial police officers appeared at his office around 2:00 p.m., and then escorted him to the detention facility. A house arrest order has reportedly been issued for his wife Ajola Xoxa, who is reportedly outside Albania.

At the moment, there is no official communication from the Special Prosecution Office, which at the end of December announced that in connection with the investigations involving Tirana Mayor Erjon Veliaj and his family, there was concrete data not only on "passive corruption", but also on other criminal offenses such as "active corruption", "money laundering" and "hiding assets".

According to the prosecution, "it is established that there is concrete evidence that close family members and other relatives close to the Mayor of Tirana have received illegal benefits through several companies and individuals who have direct interests in the Municipality of Tirana."

During the investigations, according to the prosecution, "concrete actions have been identified that include financial transactions, suspicious contracts and suspected fictitious invoices made through several companies, which are registered in ownership or are actually controlled by close family members and other relatives of the Mayor."

Earlier, officers of the National Bureau of Investigation had conducted searches at the offices of Veliaj's wife, as well as at the apartments and offices of his brother. The mayor himself was summoned to appear before investigators on December 26, where he remained for almost 5 hours. He later stated that he had been denounced by a citizen named Nesti Angoni, who, as he put it, "does not exist", describing the denunciation as an anonymous trap, without providing further details./ VOA

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