TIRANA, July 18 – The Albanian authorities have announced that they have seized four apartments and two bank accounts owned by the former deputy prime minister of Albania, Arben Ahmetaj.
The Special Prosecutor’s Office against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK) has said that controls were carried out in seven apartments and for four of them, owned by Arben Ahmetaj, preventive seizure measures were imposed.
In addition, two of his bank accounts were seized in the amount of 124,300 euros.
Arben Ahmetaj is accused by SPAK of corruption, money laundering and non-declaration and concealment of assets.
“Documents of interest to the investigation were found and seized, as well as laptops, mobile phones, USB, etc. during the control, which will be subjected to further verifications,” it was said in the SPAK announcement released on Tuesday.
The control was carried out by the National Bureau of Investigation and the State Police on Tuesday morning in implementation of the decision of the Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime.
Earlier, inspections were carried out in the apartments of Ahmetaj’s family members, while inspections in the properties in his name could not be carried out without the Assembly voting to remove his immunity as a deputy.
Ahmetaj considered the checks as “retaliation against his family” in a post on Facebook.
On July 14, the Assembly of Albania approved the request of the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Corruption to authorize the arrest of Arben Ahmetaj and the control of his properties. /argumentum.al
