TIRANA, March 19 – The owner of the former for-profit Kristal University, Ahmet Mucaj, was arrested last week under charges of “passive corruption in the private sector” after being caught selling a Bachelor’s of Law degree to a citizen in exchange for €2,500.
This week charges have surfaced that he also “graduated” 900 Italian students who never set foot in Albania in the past in a similar cash for diploma scheme.
Kristal University was officially shut down in 2014 in a government bid to get rid of all privately-owned universities that did not meet legal and educational requirements.
Mucaj, 70, in addition to being accused of private sector corruption and falsification of documents, will also be investigated on the amount of people he has issued false diplomas to during the four years Kristal University has been closed.
The prosecution’s decision comes after the Ministry of Education stated preliminary verification of the university’s registers point to a total of 86 false diplomas.
Local media reported the ministry had previously inquired information on whether the university continued issuing diplomas illegally after it was shut down and the prosecution had acted to seize them based on doubts raised when the university refused to submit its registers.
Back in the summer of 2016, the university owners had told the ministry no students had graduated after the university was shut down.
In addition to the 86 cases the prosecution is now officially investigating after catching Mucaj issuing a false diploma, however, Kristal’s illegal activities seem to be mounting up.
“There were 900 Italians registered, when Kristal had no programs either in Italian or English,” vice minister of education told local media.
This was also not the first encounter with the force of law for Mucaj as well.
In 2015, he was arrested for driving without a license, while also being investigated for stealing electricity earlier that year.
Before 2014, the business of private universities in Albania was one of the most lucrative in the country, booming as it followed massive investments and advertising campaigns which attracted both local and international citizens.
Following a discussion by members of the European Commission to approve a bill that would increase the fines for unlicensed institutions by at least 50 times, some parliament members acted on long-standing accusations alleging many of these institutions merely served as diploma mills.
In this context, private universities worked on meeting accreditation standards, while a big part of them — 22 privately-owned institutions in total — did not manage to get accredited.
The debate over accreditation reached its peak when the media revealed Renzo Bossi, the son of an Italian politician, had obtained a private university degree licensed by the Albanian Ministry of Education without ever stepping foot in Albania or attending the Bachelor’s three-year term.
Back then, the diploma issuing institution was again Kristal University.
Following Mucaj’s detention, the Ministry of Education made a public statement categorically refusing legalizing any diplomas issued after the university was closed in 2014, also confirming Kristal University refused to hand in its registers after officially being asked to a few years ago.
“86 cases were verified after official requests were sent in, but none of those diplomas appear to be valid and does not appear in the university’s official registers now under the ministry’s disposal,” the statement concluded.
