Governing coalition set to fire Presecutor General

TIRANA, Oct. 25 – The Albanian parliament decided Thursday to create an investigative committee to check the lack of the fight against crime and corruption from Prosecutor General Theodhori Sollaku as the governing coalition alleges.
Following a five-hour debate the parliament decided with 71 votes pro to create the investigative commission. The opposition lawmakers, 35, were against. Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha abstained the vote in a sign of impartiality. Sollaku has asked the parliament to lift Basha’s immunity and let them free investigate on his role in alleged corruption of the Rreshen-Kalimash road tender.
Three lawmerkes of the Human Rights Union Party, also a member of the governing coalition, did not take part in the voting.
The committee will investigate Sollaku’s activity for one month to check what they considered as a lack of the proper fight against crime and corruption, mentioning the lack of the will to apply international arrest warrants against alleged suspects.
Democrats this time have tried to accuse Sollaku on more general terms following a verdict of the Constitutional Court last year that the parliament is not entitled to check the concrete cases of the prosecutors’ work.
They are trying to generalize their accusation in order to make grave charges against Sollaku, as the prosecutor general may be fired from the post only if he breaks the constitution, gravely violates the laws, or is in an incapacitated health situation.
The prosecutor general has also a limitless mandate and not a fixed term.
That is the second time that Sollaku is being investigated. Last year another parliamentary comnmission decided that he had broken the constitution, favored crime and had also caused a 20 million dollar damage to the public budget.
But then-President Alfred Moisiu, who is entitled to nominate and move from the post the prosecutor general, was not convinced and turned the parliament’s verdict down.
That was also opposed from the opposition that claims that the Democrats and their leader Prime Minister Sali Berisha want to take all the powers, institutions under their control.
That seemed to be facilitated after the election of their previous deputy leader Bamir Topi in the post of the president in July this year.
The opposition immediately reaqted saying that Topi continues to be a member of the governing Democratic Party not respecting its impartial post.
The 11-member committee will check Sollaku’s work in a month and at the end they are to compile a report to be presented to the parliament.
As it was expected the committee, for the moment, is made up only from six members of the governing coalition that also heads it. The opposition has set no names for the committee considering it unconstitutional and saying it is a political attack against the institution of the prosecution and Berisha wants to take everything under his personal control.
Very likely the opposition again will not agree with the report.
This time the problem remains with President Bamir Topi if he will be convinced to fire Sollaku with what the governing coalition’s report will accuse him.
That is what the Democrats expect of him.