Theft at the Central Bank

“This shows that there are serious problems with the internal management. The Supervisory Council is not fulfilling the obligations, and at the same time, there is inaccuracy with the regulative acts, because the physical inventory and balance is made every year. This shows that there might be other scandals that the public doesn’t know”, declared Zef Preçi.

The Balance of the Central Bank are supervised and certified by an audit company that has been contracted by the Bank. Zef Preci says that this should change, since it leaves room for abuses and conflicts of interest.

“Maybe the Parliament should not only be more widely attentive on the agencies that are taksed to make inspections, like the High Council of Justice, but they should also change the recommendations about the auditing problems and other similar instruments. This is the moment to see the conflicts of interests within these institutions”, Preci added.

According to him, the Parliament should take a series of other legal initiatives to bring the independence of the Bank of Albania back on track.

“They should review the independence, as regards procurements, payments and the number of employees, the hiring process and the usage of their available means. I think that this could avoid such scandals. The independence is from the government and from the other institutions that regulate the banking system, but not from the law”, Zef Preci declared.

Two employees at the Central Bank have stolen 6 million USD in four years. The investigations are continuing for the real figure, which could be much higher.

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