TIRANA, June 13 – Kavaja Mayor Elvis Rroshi has been arrested for allegedly hiding his criminal past, including a rape conviction, in the self-declaration form as part of a decriminalization process in the public administration.
The Kavaja mayor was arrested on Monday afternoon following investigations by the Tirana Prosecutor’s Office and a court decision authorizing his arrest.
Prosecutors say Elvis Roshi failed to declare his sentence over a rape conviction in Italy in 1995 when he was a minor migrant.
Roshi is also suspected of having failed to declare he had been expelled from Italy and Switzerland where he has also been arrested.
If found guilty, Roshi risks being fined and punished with three to five years in prison.
Late last May, the Kavaja Mayor announced his resignation upon ‘abruptly learning of a past conviction, but later withdrew from his decision saying his lawyers had assured him he had a clean criminal record in Italy.
Roshi is in his second term as Mayor of Kavaja, a town some 50 km south of Tirana, and a former stronghold of the opposition Democratic Party.
Prosecutors are also reportedly investigating into Artur Bushi, the Socialist Party mayor of Kruja over allegations of criminal past.
