Pyramid scheme funds to be hunted down

TIRANA, Sept. 7 – Albania’s government has decided it will go after funds that pyramid schemes from the late 1990s might have deposited outside Albania through hiring special private financial investigators.
They will begin tracing, investigating and seizing assets of the former pyramid firms in all countries of the world where the funds may have been transferred or invested. Agents and specialists who will bring back money transferred from pyramid firms abroad will benefit as much as 15 percent of the value of the recovered funds.
Special investigators may not only be contracted by the Albanian government, but can also be contracted by private investigation agencies, which can track where the money was deposited.
The decision means fees will be paid for professional advisers and companies of up to 15 percent of the value recovered and repatriation from foreign banks.
The government’s decision will be implemented by the Ministry of Finance and the Oversight Group of Borrowing Companies, which has taken over the fraudulent companies’ assets in order to replay investors.
Investigations on the activities of former executives of Albanian pyramid companies have confirmed that large sums of money were transferred abroad. It was essentially stolen from common Albanians who invested their lives savings in companies that turned out to be pyramid schemes.
The fallout from the companies’ collapse in 1997 led to the worst crisis in post-communist Albania, leading to the essential collapse of the state for about two months and widespread anarchy.