SP against Ilir Beqja's parliamentary investigation on PPPs in health

The socialist majority opposed on Friday at the Conference of Presidents the opposition's demands for the establishment of two parliamentary investigative commissions for the concessions in health and for the investigation of the leakage of personal data from the state databases.

The Assembly announced that "an agreement was not reached and the issue passed to the plenary session".

After the meeting, the head of the Parliamentary Group of the Democratic Party, Gazmend Bardhi, accused the majority of violating a parliamentary right of the opposition.

 The majority did not give the consensus for the establishment of investigative commissions. An excuse to hide a political will of the majority is an insult to any normal human mind' - he said in an appearance for the media.

According to Bardhi, the SP's argument had to do with the wording of the object, considering it a very broad and impossible investigation for the 4 concession contracts.

"All four contracts are related to a single issue for the provision of services to citizens," he argued, adding that the object of the investigation is to verify the manner in which these contracts were awarded and implemented.

The head of the socialist group, Bledi Çuçi, was unavailable for comment.

In the request signed by 45 deputies, it is pointed out that the 4 public contracts in the health sector are estimated at a total value of about 450 million USD, but from the audits carried out by the High State Control and SPAK investigations, there were violations of legal and bylaw acts.

The Ministry of Health has awarded 4 public-private partnership contracts from 2015 to 2019 and 3 of them are under investigation by the Special Prosecutor's Office (SPAK) for abuse of public funds and legal violations.

In August, the Special Court ordered several arrests for the contract 'for the provision of integrated services for the supply of customized sets of sterile surgical instruments', or as it is known as the 'sterilization contract', which has cost Albanian taxpayers around 7.9 billion ALL [EUR 76 million] until the end of 2022.

After the 4-year investigations, the former Deputy Minister of Health, Klodian Rrjepaj and the businessman Ilir Rrapaj ended up in handcuffs for the criminal offenses of abuse of office and fraud, while the court requested an investigation also for the former Minister of Health Ilir Beqja and the former Minister of Finance, Shine Cani.

The parliamentary investigation is considered a legal right of the parliamentary minority to control the government, but it is not the first time that requests for investigative commissions have encountered opposition from the majority.

Previously, the SP rejected the demands for the investigation of the implementation of the law on strategic investments, the clarification of the flights of Prime Minister Rama with the 'charter' plane, etc../BIRN