A magnitude 5.6 earthquake which hit Albania and surrounding countries on Sunday evening has been followed by an analysis of the well-known seismologist, Shyqyri Aliaj who warned on Monday that there would be other earthquakes as it is the time of the energy release.
Sunday’s epicenter of the quake was around 5km from Pogradec and the tremors were felt in Saranda, Kukes, Bilisht, Fier, and Lezha as well as North Macedonia, Greece, and even Bulgaria. The earthquake took place at around 11:43 on Sunday evening.
Four people arrested under the suspicion of being involved in the scandal of publishing payrolls of Albanian employees, including media people, have been released from their cells.
The event has caused uproar in the civil society and even PM Edi Rama denounced it. But the Court of Tirana ruled on Monday that the tax employee, Eni Qirjako is obliged to appear before the court, while house arrest and suspension from duty is ruled for the other three accomplices in the affair. They are accused of abuse of office and corruption because they allegedly released the data, selling it to private entities.
According to the prosecution, Eni Qirjako and Andi Agaraj sold the citizens’ data to the other two arrested persons, Klodian Sota and Endri Ikonomi.
The Chief Prosecutor of Tirana, Elisabeta Imeraj said that initially the tax specialist, Eni Qirjako, had access to this data and then sent it to her friend, Andi Agaraj, through the WeTransfer channel. Imeraj said that the file of the patronagists, engaged by Socialist Party to spy on persons assigned by Socialist leadership, is also under investigation.
Qirjako and Agaraj are accused of “abuse of duty” in cooperation, while Agaraj has sold data in 6 cases in amounts ranging from 20 to 30.000 ALL each.
The Tirana Prosecutor’s Office decided to seize the AKSHI server on December 23, while the director of tax IT, Ervin Muça, was also prosecuted for publishing the data of Albanian citizens but he has not been put behind bars. / Argumentum.al
