Criminal report against former Consul in Milan

31/01/2014 00:00

Another investigation is expected to shed light on the abuses of the
Albanian diplomacy members abroad. The Prosecution has received a report
for the former General Counsul of Albania in Milan, Nausika Spahija,
accused by the Foreign Ministry of power abuse, theft of state property,
concealing evidence of a crime and tender inequality.

The report raises questions about an agreement of March 2nd 2010, which, according to the Ministry, has been signed by overcrossing the competences of the former general consul, and a trade subject identified as “Inter Call – Contact Center Sh.P.K”, which has its headquarters in Shkoder.

The documentation shows that the former General Consul had no competences for this agreement. This agreement sets the conditions for appointments with the Albanian citizens who want to receive the biometric documents or ID cards.

The Foreign Ministry says that offering such services, according to the laws, is one of the main duties of Consuls and that the fees are decided by law. Every additional fee is established only by law.

According to the report, the Albanian company has profited revenues that have caused a damage to the Albanian citizens, since 14.000 of them have applied for passports, and that their meetings for the consulate’s services have been appointed by the Call Center in question. By calculating the cost of the phone calls, every citizen has spent five Euros for each call.

The audit says that the claims of the citizens have been filed at the Ombudsman for services that are two or three times higher. The inequality in tenders is argued with the fact that no standard procurement procedures have been followed, such as testing the market or having several economic offers. The evidence for the theft are bank statements in which the defendant orders the payment, mounting to a total of 45.000 EUR.

As for the charge of concealing the evidence of a crime, the report is based on the audit and inspection of the former Consul computer. It has been proven that the appointments have been decided through the call center, but the auditing group found no tracks of the e-mail address, which doesn’t exist not only for the Consulate personnel, but also for the Foreign Ministry.

Balla: Example of corruption
SP reacts

For the corruptive affair of Nausika Spahia, the SP Parliamentary Group vice leader declared that the former government not only filled embassies and consulates with their family members and party militants, but they have robbed Albanian immigrants for years with illegal services.

According to him, the Milan Consulate is one of the typical examples of corruption in Consulates. The SP Parliamentary Group supports the reform started by Minister Bushati.

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