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The ascension of Ilir Proda to the head of the State Police leaves doubts

2024-10-02 10:53:00, Aktualitet CNA

Among a short list of five candidates on Monday, the Minister of the Interior, Ervin Hoxha, proposed the name of Ilir Proda to the Prime Minister Edi Rama for the post of Director General of the State Police.

Proda's candidacy is on the prime minister's desk to be formalized. He is expected to replace Muhamet Rrumbullak, the long-time head of the State Police, who resigned in early September.

Proda is an officer with a 19-year career in the State Police, who has been serving in Elbasan since 2021, first as deputy director for crime investigation and then as director of the Local Police Directorate. His ascension to the post of head of the State Police is not, however, a process without questions.

As the head of the Elbasan Police and part of the international action for the execution of arrest warrants against members of the Çopja criminal group, Proda is part of a group of police officials and the National Bureau of Investigation, who are being verified by the Special Prosecutor's Office under the suspicion of debunking the operation.

Suspicions of a conspiracy arose after out of 33 arrest warrants issued against one of the most dangerous criminal organizations in the country, only 13 security measures were executed while the rest escaped handcuffs.

The organization is led by the brothers Franc and Hajdar Çopja and according to the investigations of the Special Prosecutor's Office, it is responsible for the murder of seven people and the wounding of two others between 2018-2020, while trying to eliminate the opposing group Alibej through the contracting of paid assassins. The ?opjave group is also accused of trafficking large amounts of cocaine and laundering millions of euros in the construction sector.

The Special Prosecutor's Office confirmed the ongoing investigation for deconspiracy, but was reserved to answer questions about the verification of Proda and the answer that SPAK had given to the Ministry of Interior about his figure.

"We have no information to share with the media as the matter is under investigation," SPAK said through a spokeswoman.

Contacted by BIRN by phone, Proda admitted that his mobile phone was currently seized as part of the investigation and was being examined, for circumstances he said he could not make public in order to "not violate investigative confidentiality".

Proda also added that the phones of other police officers and leaders, as well as the investigators of the National Bureau of Investigation, were seized.

"The operation was only concerned with the execution of restraining orders, while the investigations of the criminal organization in question were carried out by the Special Prosecutor's Office itself," said Proda.

The Ministry of the Interior and the Prime Minister's Office defended the competition process, while adding that the verification of the purity of the image was carried out for all qualified candidates by the Special Commission and a number of law enforcement institutions, including SPAK.

"Questioned in advance at the start of the procedure by the Special Commission for the competition in question, SPAK has referred in writing that there is no investigation in the process for any of the candidates in the competition, including the candidate you are asking about," said the prime minister's spokeswoman. Manjola Hasa.

"At this point we are in the framework of conjectures or speculations and not any proof or fact that can be considered serious, to raise hypotheses that affect the figure of the candidate proposed by the Minister of the Interior for General Director of the State Police," he added. Hasa, emphasizing that the competition was transparent and monitored by international missions at the Ministry of the Interior./ Reporter.al