Bank of Albania theft, court gives verdict for first group of defendants
19/02/2015 00:00
The Washington Agreement Must Be Reactivated! 06/01 19:04
The Court of Tirana found guilty the first ten defendants of the Bank of
Albania. Judge Martin Dedaj sentenced them to 11 years in total for
power abuse. The Court found that with their acts and failure to act,
they have created the right conditions for Ardian Bitraj to steal 713
million ALL at the Bank of Albania.
All employees, from the former Director of the Emission Department and the former responsible of the acsh stock, who calculated the monetary values, benefited from the accelerated trial by receiving eight to 18 months in prison.
The supervisory operator, Dhimiter Davidi, who had seen Bitraj take the money from the bank without reporting them. He was sentenced to two years and four months in prison. However, his final sentence after the accelerated trial was 18 months in prison.
Lavdim Cani, Myzejen Belba and Liljana Tusha were sentenced each with one year and four months in prison. The former director of the Treasury Department, Dorian Collaku, Bahri Allushi and Mehdi Marku were sentenced to one year in prison. Gentjan Jahja and Fatbrdha Gurthi were sentenced to eight months in prison.
The former Chief of the Active Cash Stock, Bashkim Xhilaga, was sentenced to one year and four months in prison, but he will leave the cell for health reasons.
The court verdict was received in silence by the relatives of the defendants. However, there were comments outside the floor.
“The accusation is ridiculous. Some were sentenced unjustly. One is accused of not drafting a regulation, others are accused of not implementing the regulation. It’s contradictory”.
Another judge panel tried to start the trial of the key defendants, for the theft of 713 million ALL, but the absence of Mimoza Bruzia caused the trial to fail. Ardian Bitraj appeared calm, together with Klevis Bejtja, and they only declared their personal data.
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