Prosecutors are considering organized crime charges against Vlora Hyseni as the expanding investigation raises questions about national security and Prime Minister Edi Rama’s decision to appoint her.
TIRANA, Albania — Albania’s former intelligence chief, Vlora Hyseni, already under house arrest on suspicion of disclosing classified information and assisting a businessman accused of organized crime, is facing an expanding criminal investigation that now includes suspected corruption and money laundering. Prosecutors are also examining evidence that could lead to an additional charge of participation in a structured criminal group
The developments mark a significant escalation in an investigation that has raised serious questions about the possible penetration of Albania’s security institutions by organized crime and the misuse of public funds.
According to court documents reported Monday, the Special Prosecution Office Against Corruption and Organized Crime, known as SPAK, opened a new investigation on Oct. 30 after identifying financial transactions totaling 950,000 euros involving companies connected to businessman Ergys Agasi and businesses in Germany linked to Hyseni’s brothers. Of that amount, 500,000 euros was transferred, while another 450,000-euro transfer was canceled.
Prosecutors suspect the transactions were intended to compensate Hyseni for providing Agasi with confidential intelligence information. The allegations remain under investigation, and no court has established that Hyseni received illicit payments.
The financial investigation connects the alleged misuse of classified intelligence to a wider corruption case involving Albania’s National Agency for Information Society, known as AKSHI, which manages major government technology contracts.
According to investigators, two companies involved in an AKSHI procurement contract worth approximately 18 million euros transferred about 119 million leks, roughly 1.2 million euros, to Enklo Construction, a company operating in the construction sector rather than information technology.
Prosecutors suspect the payments were not supported by genuine technology services. Enklo Construction subsequently transferred funds to Fortis Beton, a company associated with businessman Orest Sota, who has acknowledged a friendship with Agasi.
In March 2024, Fortis Beton transferred 500,000 euros to a German architectural firm employing one of Hyseni’s brothers. The payments were reportedly justified as fees for designing a commercial and residential development in Tirana that was never implemented.
Another transfer of 450,000 euros, intended for a German company represented by Hyseni’s brother Izet Dingler, was canceled.
Sota has maintained that the payments concerned legitimate architectural services and said Agasi had recommended the German company. Prosecutors are investigating whether the transactions were genuine commercial arrangements or a mechanism for channeling money allegedly originating from public contracts to individuals connected with Hyseni.
SPAK has requested additional evidence from authorities in Germany and Kosovo to establish the financial relationships and identify the ultimate beneficiaries.
The new allegations add a financial dimension to the case against Hyseni, who was suspended as director of the State Intelligence Service, or SHISH, and placed under house arrest in September following accusations that she disclosed protected information and assisted Agasi while he was evading arrest.
Agasi, arrested on Aug. 26 after approximately eight months as a fugitive, faces multiple criminal accusations arising from the AKSHI investigation, including alleged leadership of a structured criminal group, manipulation of public tenders and unlawful deprivation of liberty.
Investigators discovered extensive communications between Agasi and Hyseni during the period when the businessman was wanted by authorities. Court records indicate that between June 28 and Aug. 26, the two exchanged 508 communications, including telephone calls, video calls and messages.
Hyseni has acknowledged contacts with Agasi but maintained they were related to her official responsibilities. Prosecutors suspect the communications involved assistance to the businessman while he was avoiding arrest.
Another central element concerns nine pages of intelligence diagrams discovered in a vehicle associated with Agasi. According to court records, the documents originated from SHISH and contained operational intelligence concerning organized criminal activities in Albania and abroad.
Their discovery suggests that sensitive intelligence material may have reached individuals who were themselves subjects of criminal investigations. However, prosecutors have not conclusively established who removed the documents from SHISH or how they reached Agasi.
The investigation has also uncovered suspected assistance to Agasi from individuals connected to the State Police and police forensic institutions. Investigators are examining evidence that he obtained restricted vehicle registration plates through police officials in Elbasan.
The Special Court has described the evidence as indicating potentially extensive penetration of state institutions by the alleged criminal network.
Prosecutors are now assessing whether Hyseni’s alleged activities could justify charging her with membership in the structured criminal group that Agasi is accused of directing. Such a charge would substantially broaden the case beyond individual allegations of disclosure of classified information, assistance to a suspect, corruption and money laundering. No such charge against Hyseni has yet been confirmed.
The investigation also raises questions about the political decisions that brought Hyseni to the leadership of Albania’s intelligence service.
Hyseni previously served as deputy director and acting director of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency. On June 30, 2021, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani and Prime Minister Albin Kurti dismissed her from the deputy director’s position. The official announcement provided no substantive explanation for the dismissal but reminded her of her continuing legal obligation to protect classified information obtained during her service.
Just months later, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama appointed Hyseni as his national security adviser. In March 2023, Rama proposed her appointment as director of SHISH, and President Bajram Begaj formally appointed her on April 3.
Rama defended his choice at the time by emphasizing Hyseni’s professional experience and international intelligence credentials. However, no detailed public explanation has emerged of how her dismissal from Kosovo’s intelligence agency was assessed before she was entrusted with Albania’s most sensitive intelligence institution.
The circumstances surrounding her appointment now raise questions about the vetting process, institutional oversight and political accountability for senior national security appointments. Her earlier dismissal does not establish wrongdoing, but it remains relevant to assessing the decisions that preceded her appointment.
The implications extend beyond Albania’s domestic political institutions.
As a NATO member since 2009, Albania participates in allied security cooperation, while SHISH maintains relationships with foreign intelligence partners. During her tenure, Hyseni held high-level contacts with American and NATO intelligence officials, including then-U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.
There is no public evidence that NATO classified information or intelligence provided by allied services was compromised. Nevertheless, allegations that the head of a NATO member’s intelligence service may have disclosed sensitive information to a businessman accused of organized crime raise concerns about institutional safeguards and the protection of intelligence operations.
The new financial evidence introduces an additional question: whether funds allegedly diverted through government technology contracts were used to obtain privileged access to national security information.
The investigation presents two contrasting assessments of Albania’s institutions. SPAK’s ability to pursue a case involving the country’s intelligence chief demonstrates the reach of its anti-corruption investigations. At the same time, the allegations expose the possibility that criminal interests gained access to institutions responsible for protecting the state.
The outcome will depend on the evidence presented by prosecutors and the courts’ eventual findings. Hyseni and the other individuals implicated remain presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
But the case has already moved beyond allegations of procurement corruption. It now concerns the integrity of Albania’s intelligence service, the accountability of those responsible for its leadership and the ability of a NATO member state to protect its most sensitive institutions from criminal influence.
