7 patients received money for operations/ Investigations for Edvin Prifti are closed, thousands of euros seized

2024-02-13 10:19:00, Kronika CNA

7 patients received money for operations/ Investigations for Edvin Prifti are

The Special Prosecutor's Office has closed the investigations and sent the surgeon doctor Edvin Prifti for trial. The doctor is accused of "Passive corruption of persons exercising public functions", in 7 (seven) cases, "Theft committed by abuse of duty", "Concealment of income", and "Cleaning of the proceeds of a criminal offense or criminal activity".

From the investigations, it was found that the Priest, with the duty of Head of the Cardiac Surgery Service at the "Mother Teresa" University Hospital Center, as a cardiac surgeon, at least in seven cases received irregular benefits in monetary amounts from patients operated on at the Center's Cardiac Surgery Pavilion "Mother Teresa" University Hospital.

During the investigations, the authorities seized 434,319 euros, 67,914,368 ALL, and 7,600 dollars.

Full Notice:

The Special Prosecutor's Office against Corruption and Organized Crime in Tirana has completed the investigations and submitted to the Special Court of First Instance for Corruption and Organized Crime, the request for trial of criminal proceedings no. 242, of 2020, with the citizen defendant Edvin Prifti, cardiologist, at the Cardiac Surgery Service of the "Mother Teresa" University Hospital Center, Tirana, accused of committing the criminal offenses of "Passive corruption of persons exercising public functions", provided for by article 259 of the Criminal Code, in 7 (seven) cases, "Theft committed by abusing duty", provided by article 135 of the Criminal Code, "Concealing income", and "Cleaning the proceeds of a criminal offense or criminal activity", provided by articles 180 and 287 of the Criminal Code.

From the conducted investigations, it has been proven that the defendant Edvin Prifti, with the duty of Head of the Cardiac Surgery Service at the "Mother Teresa" University Hospital Center, Tirana, during the exercise of his duties, as a cardiac surgeon, at least on seven occasions has received irregular benefits in monetary amounts from patients operated on near the Cardiac Surgery Pavilion at the "Mother Teresa" University Hospital Center.

Also, at the time of the arrest, from the control of the defendant's apartment and office, significant monetary sums were found and seized in CASH, for which the investigation showed that the defendant could not justify them with legal sources, sums which are suspected to be the product of criminal activity, and more specifically the sums of 256,800 Euros, 7,600 American Dollars and 15,435,000 Lek. Following a comprehensive and objective investigation of this proceeding, a full property and financial investigation was carried out, and in the end, six bank accounts at Second Level Banks were seized, including monetary sums in the amount of 177,497 Euros, and 52,479 .368 Lek. The total amounts seized during the preliminary investigation are 434,319 (four hundred and thirty-four thousand, three hundred and nineteen) Euros, 67,914,368 (sixty-seven million, nine hundred and fourteen thousand, three hundred and sixty-eight) Lek, as well as 7,600 USD.

The investigation has proven that, from 2018 onwards, the defendant requested fictitious tax invoices from various commercial entities operating in the field of providing medical services, etc., which were then submitted to the tax authorities. in order not only to justify monetary amounts, but also to fictitiously increase expenses in order to avoid tax obligations.

The defendant Edvin Prifti was provided with fictitious invoices, which reflect the fictitious purchase of medical items and equipment from commercial entities in his name, with the aim of increasing costs and avoiding tax obligations, but also to justify the amounts paid in cash to accounts of these businesses, the amounts which were then withdrawn by him, and deposited in personal accounts. In this way, he has justified the sources of income, without legal origin, which, however, have not been fully justified. This mechanism, especially the monetary movements in the bank accounts, accompanied by the device with fictitious tax invoices, shows the true intention of the defendant, which is to hide and cover the nature of the source of income, from the activity of corruption. For this reason, he has consumed in this way the elements of the criminal offense of "Cleaning the proceeds of a criminal offense or criminal activity" committed in the form provided by article 287/1 point "b" of the Criminal Code./CNA