TIRANA, Oct. 22 – The High Prosecutorial Council (KLP) failed again on Monday to establish the Special Prosecution Office and Special Court against Corruption, a vital body of the ongoing justice reform commonly referred to as SPAK.
The meeting, which was scheduled to take place on Monday afternoon, was postponed because KLP member Besnik Cani stated that he was not familiar with the materials on the discussion agenda.
The highlight of this KLP meeting was expected to be the discussion on the SPAK establishment.
Currently, for the special investigative structure, there are only eight candidates who have passed the vote, out of the 22 total candidates.
According to the constitution, setting up the SPAK requires no fewer than ten prosecutors to begin work on the first files.
The Chairman of the Laws Commission Ulsi Manja has publicly demanded that the head of the KLP Gent Ibrahimi establishes SPAK within this year, also as an important precondition of the country’s EU integration process.
He also told Ibrahimi to use the legal framework, anticipating the establishment of the SPAK, with eight prosecutors who have passed both levels of vetting, while the remaining two to be interim prosecutors.
However, KLP members are divided over establishing SPAK under the formula of eight members, plus two temporary members.
Some consider it to be a violation of the constitution, while the other part agrees that the constitutional legal framework enables the establishment of an investigative structure with this formula.
The KLP is expected to announce by law when the next meeting will be held, during which it will be made known whether the SPAK will be approved by its members through the 8+2 formula, or wait for the rest of the prosecutors to be vetted.
One of Germany’s conditions for opening talks with Albania has been the establishment of the SPAK, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court within this year.
