TIRANA, May 3 – A Tirana district court judge was arrested and charged with corruption on Monday after an unrelated investigation by authorities exposed a bribery attempt. The arrest order on Ibrahim Hoxha was executed immediately after his son was caught red-handed accepting a payment of €4,250 from a third party in exchange for a favorable ruling in a property ownership dispute. Together with the judge and his son, Dritan Jazexhiu, a party in the dispute, was arrested along with Novruz Gajdja, a former police officer, who is believed to have acted as a middleman.
The deal was discovered after the businessman Jazexhiu was placed under surveillance by authorities for his involvement in an armed conflict in connection with property conflicts, inwhich he remained wounded. Evidence collected shows that the businessman had contacted the judge through the former police officer so that he could rule in Jazexhiu’s favor. The accused have denied the allegations saying that the money exchanged was made in relation to a car sale, but evidence collected from wiretapping tells a different story.
After agreeing on the sum and the place to hand over the money, the judge had sent his own son to collect the payment, according to prosecutors. Justice Minister Ylli Manjani asked the High Council of Justice (KLD) to sack him on gross misconduct grounds. “I greet the judge’s arrest. KLD must dismiss him for actions that seriously compromise the image of a judge,” Manjani commented on the case. Manjani also appealed to citizens to report bribery and corruption in the country’s judicial system so that corrupt judges are weeded out from the system.
The High Council of Justice in an extraordinary meeting authorized the judge’s arrest and suspended him from duty pending trial. Meanwhile, authorities have also launched a separate investigation over assets owned by the judge. It is not the first time that Hoxha’s rulings have been called into question. A few months earlier, former Justice Minister Nasip Naà§o had requested Hoxha’s removal from office after the latter ruled against an extradition order for Paro Laà§i, then president of football club Partizani. Laà§i had an international arrest wanted issued by Italian authorities.
After Hoxha decided not to extradite Laà§i, the latter left the country before the Appeal’s Court overturned the decision and ruled in favor of the extradition. Then, the High Council of Justice did not take into consideration the former minister’s request for his dismissal.
