Head of Serious Crimes Appeal risks dismissal under vetting process
Story Highlights
- On his side, Petku objected the IQC’s claims, saying they are mistaken concerning his wealth declaration, his questionable ties with crime elements and his professional integrity.
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TIRANA, April 3 - The Independent Qualification Committee said on Tuesday it is investigating the head of the Serious Crimes Appeals Court Fehmi Petku, after noticing discrepancies on all three re-evaluation fields.
On his side, Petku objected the IQC’s claims, saying they are mistaken concerning his wealth declaration, his questionable ties with crime elements and his professional integrity.
Meanwhile, it was a report provided by the Directorate of Securing Classified Information that raised doubts on Petku maintaining contact with people belonging to organized crime networks.
“Information has also been ensured concerning inclusion with passive corruption in evaluating judicial cases,” the spokeswoman said, adding there has been information concerning Petku’s son which alleged he might be pressured by organized crime networks.
Petku objected to these allegations and raised concerns over the directorate’s professionalism, saying that the compilation of two reports with different results goes against the rules and that one of the two reports is invalid.
“Either the first report or the second are illegal,” Petku said, adding that the evaluation of the integrity of his professional figure was conducted beyond the legal deadline.
Meanwhile, the investigation also found issues with the judge’s wealth declaration, whereas the IQC raised doubts for concealment, false declaration and inability to legally cover his wealth based on his wage.
In addition to the dictatorate’s report, the IQC spokeswoman Xhensila Pine said the commission had undertaken a more thorough investigation of Petku’s properties.
According to these investigations, Petku owns a piece of land approximately 270 square meters and a three-store building in Tirana’s “Ali Dem” neighborhood. He also owns a 4000 square meters piece of land which he bought in August 1996 for six million Albanian Lek anda 2000 square meter land which he bought for three million.
Petku also co-owns 1600 square meter land with other individuals and an agricultural land of 100 thousand square meters surface. In addition to possible conflict of interest, Pine said Petku has no sources that justify all this accumulated wealth.
On his side, Petku said that in addition to having declared all the properties mentioned by the report in advance, he had also clarified that the majority of those properties were inherited. He further said his family belonged to those who had been persecuted during communism and that he’d been deported after his uncle’s escape in 1967.
Petku added his family had worked difficult jobs during communism that would be paid more than usual, from 35 to 40 thousand Albanian Lek at the time, and that is how it managed to buy properties.
