Albania’s Constitutional Court ruled last week that the law establishing the National Bureau of Investigation violated the country’s constitution
TIRANA, April 23 – Albania’s Socialist-led ruling coalition said it would push forward an alternative law to establish the National Bureau of Investigation, after the country’s highest court ruled the law parliament had passed earlier violated Albania’s constitution.
The Constitutional Court said the NBI law violated two articles of the country’s highest law, and could not come into force.
The government had planned to use the new body to fight corruption among top officials, and had modeled it after the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, with U.S. assistance in the drafting of the law.
Following the court’s verdict, several lawmakers and ministers said the NBI would be launched nonetheless, pointing out that the Constitutional Court had invalidated only certain points of the law.
Spartak Braho, head of the parliament’s security commission, said he disagreed with the court’s decision and the necessary changes would be made to allow the NBI to form and strengthen the fight against organized crime.
Braho, a lawmaker of the Socialist Movement for Integration, the junior partner in the governing coalition, said that the bureau would not be a parallel structure to existing bodies, but specialize in that particular fight.
Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri said he was surprised by the court’s verdict, adding that the bureau aimed to fighting corruption at the top. However, he said the NBI would be established soon, taking into account the court ruling.
The public statements from several officials appeared to indicate the law would be reworded to avoid constitutional conflicts.
