TIRANA, Nov. 4 – The High Inspectorate for the Declaration and Audit of Assets and Conflicts of Interest announced it has filed criminal charges with prosecutors against a Durres judge, Shpetime Pitaku, after it found she had $1 million in wealth that could not be justified through legitimate sources.
“At the end of a full audit, it resulted that there was concealment of assets, false declarations of private interests, falsification of documents, lack of legitimate sources of finance and suspicions of money laundering amounting to about $1 million,” the inspectorate said in a statement.
The inspectorate said prosecutors must do a “full and comprehensive” criminal investigation in the case, adding it “shall promptly notify the High Council of Justice and the Minister of Justice in order to take disciplinary measures” against the judge.
In September, for the same reasons, the inspectorate filed charges against the head of the Court of Appeals in Tirana, Alaudin Malaj, who the inspectorate believes has a fortune of 1.7 million euros. In 2003, the property declared by the judge Malaj was 60 thousand euros, according to official data.
Several public opinion polls have shown most Albanians believe their judicial system is corrupt.
