TIRANA, June 7 – Suspicions that wiretapping equipment was illegally brought to Albania and unlawfully used for surveillance activities have led to the suspension of police chief Haki à‡ako from duty together with two senior police officials.
à‡ako was suspended on abuse of office charges on Tuesday amid allegations that a wiretap device brought in Albania by Italian Interforce mission for training purposes has also been illegally used for wiretapping.
At the request of Prosecutor General’s office, Tirana court judge Arjan Aliaj ruled in favor of suspending State Police chief à‡ako on Tuesday, while two other senior police officials were placed under house arrest.
The Prosecutor General’s office said in a statement that the police chief is suspected of abuse of office for not taking appropriate measures for the entry, administration and use of the device in question, an IMSI Catcher, in Albanian territory.
The office further stated that the equipment was brought to Albania without being registered at customs and lacking proper authorization from the country’s Prosecutor General Adriatik Llalla.
Meanwhile, high-rank officials Artion Duka and Entiol Xhelilaj also face obstruction of justice charges alongside abuse of office.
Xhelilaj is suspected of having transported the equipment on at least two occasions including the moment when prosecutors had gone to confiscate the device.
A letter from the head of Italian police Alessandro Pansa addressed to General Prosecutor Adriatik Llalla leaked to the media about two weeks ago stated that the device has always been in the hands of the Italians and that it has not been used for wiretapping claiming that the equipment was unable to intercept phone conversations.
However, prosecutors claim that the device has spent significant amounts of time at the State Police headquarters. They suspect the device is capable of tracking phones’ IMEI numbers and that several phones could have been illegally tracked by the equipment.
The opposition, which has accused the government of placing public figures in the country under surveillance since the scandal emerged about two weeks ago, called for the immediate resignation of Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri.
“We will not accept scapegoats in this vital case for national security, we won’t accept that the person in charge of this dirty operation remains in office,” Democratic Party chairman Lulzim Basha told reporters.
For the opposition Democratic Party, the fact that the police director has been suspended implies the inevitable involvement of the Interior Minister.
Tahiri publicly defended State Police director à‡ako and refuted the opposition’s accusations.
“I am aware that the police chief together with the two officials has not violated the law for a single second while exerting their duty. There has been no wiretapping or anything close to that,” said Tahiri upon learning the suspension of the police chief.
Testifying before the parliamentary committee on national security in May, Tahiri maintained that the device, brought in Albania as part of a bilateral agreement with Italian police and for which police are being accused of using it for spying activities, is used to train Albanian police officers and is impossible to use for eavesdropping.
On Wednesday, Tahiri called the judge, who ordered the suspension of the police chief and the house arrest for two officials, “a person who has set free people convicted of serious crimes including killers and rapists” .
Using strong language, Prime Minister Edi Rama considered the judge “a killer of justice” and “a tool in the hands of the opposition” .
“The judge serves the interests of those who do not want the justice reform,” Rama wrote on social media.
The remarks were slammed by the Union of Judges, which considered them as “blackmail” .
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Edi Rama publicly apologized to the Italian government for the wiretapping allegations considering it a “random political maneuver” .
Rama maintained the same tone and language in the parliament session on Thursday against the judge, which created tensions in the chamber as opposition MP’s rushed to encircle the speaker’s podium.
Local media report that Italy has withdrawn the chief of the Interforce mission Michele Grillo, identified by Italian media as the person who mediated bringing the IMSI Catcher in Albania. They highlighted the fact that Grillo’s wife is employed by the same company which produces the equipment.
However, Italian authorities have not officially confirmed the news.
The withdrawal of the Interforce chief came days after a meeting of Prosecutor General Adriatik Llalla with Italian ambassador Alberto Cutillo, in which he ensured him that prosecutors are not investigating on Italian police activities in connection with the device.
