TIRANA, April 20 – Eight employees of the tax department have been arrested and three others are wanted on charges of corruption, police said.
The operation codenamed “Stop” had also netted two other arrests a few days earlier. The arrests followed many months of investigation, according to police.
The arrested officials mainly worked at the office of the taxation department in charge of monitoring the gambling businesses.
They were found to have profited Lek 100,000 per month from the bet shops and casinos so that they could operate without being taxed accordingly.
The Socialist-led government started an operation only a few months after it came to power more than a year ago, first closing down many gambling businesses and also pledging to fight the illegal businesses in that field.
The government has also said that all casinos should be transferred out of capital Tirana and into the suburbs, but the action has not happened.
Tens of millions of euros are spent annually in Albanian gambling establishments, despite the fact that the country is among the poorest in the continent.
