Unnamed current, former ministers under investigation, says Prosecutor General

In a live television interview, Prosecutor General Llalla said a current Rama cabinet minister is under criminal investigation, as are former ministers from the previous government.
TIRANA, Nov. 12 – A live television interview with Prosecutor General Adriatik Llalla has sparked political debate, after he revealed that a minister of the current government is under investigation on alleged abuse of post or corruption.
Llalla gave no names, but also added that the same type of investigation is ongoing for more than one former government ministers.
Prime Minister Edi Rama has not publicly reacted to the revelation so far, but at least one Socialist member of parliament, former Prime Minister Pandeli Majko, said Llalla should have not made the revelation until charges were officially filed.
The Socialist-led government had earlier asked prosecutors to investigate some of their predecessors from the Democratic-led government, including the former minister of defense and finance. They deny any wrongdoing.
Llalla’s comments come as Albania needs to desperately fight corruption among its public officials, a continuous request from the international community and especially the European Union, which the country wants to join one day. Tens of former mid-level officials are currently under investigation after officials filed charges.
Majko debated with Llalla directly at a meeting of a parliamentary commission, where the general prosecutor had gone update MPs on his work. Majko said Llalla had been hasty in commenting about investigations and added that the prosecutor general was still influenced from politics and that he had not been transparent, especially in the nominations of new prosecutors.
Llalla said that in order to be more successful in his work, parliament needs to give the institution he leads more money and the ability to hire more prosecutors as hundreds of investigations have piled up due to lack of manpower.
Llalla was nominated to the post during the former Democratic Party government, but was largely seen as a consensus candidate with the support of international partners. The institution he leads is constitutionally independent
Meanwhile, the Albanian branch of Transparency International, the corruption watchdog organization, came out with a statement urging MPs not to put political pressure on the general prosecutor.