VOA: The fight against organized crime assets in Albania faces obstacles

In Albania, the fight against organized crime assets has statistically increased in recent years, but their management is facing difficulties, while legal guarantees that prevent the return of these assets to the hands of criminal groups are lacking.

Money laundering by organized crime groups is considered one of the main risks to Albania's security and economy, and yet, the country faces numerous problems in the fight against illicit assets.

Although statistically the number of seized or confiscated assets has increased in recent years, institutions are encountering difficulties in administering these assets or removing them from the hands of organized crime.

According to the Special Prosecution Office, over the last five years, assets with a market value of around 182 million euros were seized or confiscated, mainly invested in the construction business, real estate or commercial companies.

"Around 70-80% of property investigations here are opened mainly ex-officio by prosecutors, based on the investigations they are pursuing. The State Police also provides assistance through referrals and general jurisdiction prosecutors, and recently, there has been an increase in requests from foreign judicial authorities with the aim of conducting property investigations and confiscations with Albanian citizens who have been convicted outside the territory of Albania for offenses that are within our competence," says SPAK prosecutor Doloreza Musabelliu.

In addition to traditional money laundering sectors, Musabelliu points out that organized crime is also recently investing in cryptocurrencies.

"I can say that only within the framework of the investigations against the "Çopja" organization, significant amounts of real estate, businesses and bank accounts have been seized. Also, cryptocurrencies worth 10 million USD have been seized," Musabelliu added.

However, not all seized assets are managed by the Seized and Confiscated Assets Administration Agency, while a significant portion of them continue to be used by their previous owners.

The agency told BIRN that it currently manages 2,484 assets in total with an estimated value of 1.7 billion lek, or less than 10% of the value declared by SPAK. Among them, 667 assets, or 27% of the total, have not yet been taken under administration.

Legal problems have also emerged with the procedures for renting out seized apartments or administering business companies. According to a report by the Supreme State Audit Office, the main concern is that in some cases, owners who are subject to court decisions continued to administer these assets illegally.

Such cases are also acknowledged by the administrators of seized assets, who say they are taking measures to avoid such occurrences.

"It is a phenomenon that other homologous agencies in the region or the European Union have also faced. It is not always easy to confront organized crime figures and administer and manage them as the law requires. There are always numerous attempts, but with the cooperation of the relevant bodies we are taking all necessary measures to increasingly avoid this phenomenon," says Indrit Karaj, administrator at the Agency for the Administration of Seized and Confiscated Assets.

The European Union suggests using the assets of organized crime for social purposes, but the results in this regard have been limited. Civil society representatives monitoring this process express concern about the lack of legal guarantees that prevents the return of these assets to members of criminal groups.

"The reason why a directive has been issued in the EU for almost two years, which pushes states towards social reuse, is part of the very large guarantee that these properties will not be returned indirectly to the former owner and in the legal framework, there are very large deficiencies regarding the role of the Agency but also of the Prosecutor's Office. It is done only on the basis of self-declaration; that I have no connection with X. This is a very, very large deficiency," says Juliana Hoxha, executive director of the Partners Albania organization.

According to Hoxha, reviewing the legal framework is necessary to strengthen the fight against organized crime assets. VOA