TIRANA, July 23 – The Serious Crimes Prosecution has taken the measure preventive sequestration for some of former General Prosecutor Adriatik Llalla’s assets suspected to be products of criminal activity.
The ruling comes as a result of preliminary investigations carried out against him for concealing his wealth, in cooperation with the Central Investigation Directorate.
Llalla’s sequestered assets include a 67 square meter apartment in Durres and four agricultural lands mounting to a surface of 22,050 square meters, worth more than 800,000 euros in the market.
According to the Serious Crimes Prosecution, the sequestration of these assets serves as guarantee of the investigation started against Llalla under the accusation of wealth concealment.
Investigations towards the former General Prosecutor were initiated by the Durres Prosecution Office after raising doubts he had not declared all immobile assets, and were later transferred to the Serious Crimes Prosecution, which Llalla headed until last November, when his term ended.
Llalla has been under the spotlight due to an ongoing public debate with soon-to-be-former US Ambassador to Tirana Donald Lu, whom Llalla has in the past accused of unconstitutionally pressuring him to take actions in violation to Albanian laws.
Llalla blamed this conflict for the US Secretary of State’s decision to designate Llalla and his family as people who cannot enter the US on February.
Upon Llalla’s mandate end, Lu advised political parties to find a temporary substitute that would bring an end to the era of GPs protecting corrupt politicians, while repeatedly referring to Llalla as an important representative of the ‘big fish’ the justice reform is supposed to be punishing.
In this context, Lu publicly requested in the past for Llalla to undergo the justice reform’s vetting process although his mandate ended last November and, giving up his right to be re-elected as an appeals judge, he is no longer part of the justice system.
Meanwhile, former Democratic Party Prime Minister Sali Berisha accused Lu of overstepping his mission in Albania by indirectly “asking to propose the name of the next General Prosecutor” although he had a “conflict of interest” in the case.
According to Berisha, Lu never addressed Llalla’s corruption accusations against him, but rather insisted that Llalla leaves under any circumstance.
When Llalla and his family were announced personae non gratae by the General Secretary of State under corruption charges, Llalla denied those accusations, saying he hasn’t been investigated by Albanian authorities in the past, and that it was Lu’s spread of disinformation that led to this decision.
