The delay in the arrest of the former deputy minister and the businessman/ The prosecutor and the judge speak

2023-08-17 18:05:00, Aktualitet CNA

The delay in the arrest of the former deputy minister and the businessman/ The

Today SPAK has arrested the former Deputy Minister of Health Klodian Rrjepaj and businessman Ilir Rrapaj for the sterilization concession.

In the announcement, it was announced that SPAK had registered the criminal proceedings in January 2020 and that it had addressed the court for arrest measures in June 2023, after having carried out "an extremely large number of investigative actions".

The security measures were approved by the Special Court on June 23, but SPAK does not clarify in the announcement their execution almost two months later.

Asked by BIRN, the prosecutor of the case, Edvin Kondili, linked the delay in the execution of security measures to the fact that the businessman under charge, Ilir Rrapaj, was not in Albania.

"It was a tactic of ours, because we knew that the other person would also come under investigation," he said, implying that the arrest of former deputy minister Rrjepaj could result in the departure of businessman Ilir Rrapaj.

SPAK's request for security measures against eight accused persons, not including the former Minister of Health, Ilir Beqja and Minister of Finance, Shkëlqim Cani, was evaluated as minimal by the court.

"I saw that there were other criminal acts and persons, including the two former ministers, and I directed the prosecution to investigate in this direction," said Judge Erion Bani, who reviewed the security measures, in a telephone conversation.

The prosecutor of the case, Kondili, told BIRN that former ministers Ilir Beqja and Shkëlqim Cani are under investigation for their role in granting the sterilization concession./ CNA