Albania’s former Prime Minister, Sali Berisha, and his son-in-law have been charged with corruption and money laundering charges related to a controversial land deal. The charges were laid by the Albanian prosecutors following their investigations into a land deal which saw the grounds of a sports club being privatized. [More details]
The Special Prosecutor’s Office against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK), claimed that Berisha committed “corruption of senior officials”. Berisha was involved in the privatization of a state-owned sports park. Suspicions arose that he did this for the benefit of his son-in-law. The former Prime Minister has been told to report to the police and is currently not allowed to leave the country.
The charges against Berisha were first presented in 2020 by current interior minister, Taulant Balla. His accusations noted that Berisha had a role in the privatization of sports fields and other Defense ministry-owned facilities located in Tirana, the capital of Albania. These sports fields were later transformed into multi-story buildings. These alleged crimes took place in 2008 when Berisha was the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition. Berisha’s son-in-law, Jamarber Malltezi, was taken into custody after being accused of corruption and money laundering.
At a press conference, Berisha, now 79, dismissed all accusations and pointed fingers at current Prime Minister Edi Rama, attributing the accusations to political rivalry. Berisha stated that both himself and Malltezi are innocent and Malltezi was only charged with the corruption due to his familial link to Berisha.
Following the fall of communism in Albania in the 1990s, Sali Berisha became Albania’s first democratically elected president. Berisha was the president from 1992 to 1997 and subsequently Prime Minister from 2005 to 2013. He also won re-election to the position of a parliament member for the Democratic Party in the parliamentary elections held in April 2021.