TIRANA, Feb.10 – Former central bank governor Ardian Fullani is suing the parliament and the Bank of Albania for wrongful dismissal after he was officially declared innocent of abuse of office in relation to the theft of Euro 5 million from the bank reserves.
According to the lawsuit, which has been filed before the Administrative Court, Fullani is claiming unpaid wages from the date of the alleged unfair termination until the end of his interrupted term as governor of the Bank of Albania.
The former central bank governor was arrested in September 2014 on abuse of office charges after about Euro five million went missing from the bank vault. Later that month, parliament sacked Fullani from his position as central bank governor through a secret ballot.Two former central bank employees have received lengthy prison sentences after they were found guilty in the theft case.
Fullani himself was accused of abusing office by not appointing a deputy governor and not doing enough to prevent the theft. He also faced charges for avoiding normal procedures regarding the purchase of a hotel for office space. However, Fullani was found not guilty by the court in October 2015, and was acquitted despite the prosecutor’s request for a five-year prison sentence.
The Appeals Court upheld the decision of the first instance court and therefore the former governor was officially cleared of all charges. Prior to his discharge in 2014, Fullani had held the position of Bank of Albania governor for nine years, while his second term as governor was set to expire in 2018. Parliament elected the current governor Genti Sejko as the new head of the country’s central bank in February 2015.
