TIRANA, May 10 – The General Prosecutor’s Office announced this week it will launch further verifications on Elvis Roshi, Mayor of Kavaja, in the framework of the decriminalization law after his statement was found to provide unclear information.
The General Prosecutor’s request came after Roshi’s self-declaration form was leaked to the media in which he stated that he had been detained in Germany “before 2002” .
Moreover, Roshi did not specify the reasons for his arrest stating that “he did not remember” .
According to the prosecution, the self-declaration form submitted by Roshi contains vague information, which requires further verification, while it asked the Central Election Committee to provide all necessary materials.
The Mayor of Kavaja has stated that he had been detained and later expulsed from Germany as an undocumented immigrant, but that he wrote he did not remember for “the sake of accuracy” .
Roshi stated that he is not a subject of any crime foreseen by the decriminalization law and that his lawyers are working to provide the full details of the case.
The name of Elvis Roshi has often been mentioned by the opposition as a person involved in criminal activities.
The decriminalization law, adopted last year by Parliament requires all public officials in the country to declare whether they have ever been charged or sentenced. If they answer yes to the question they will have to resign, while they will also lose their posts if they provide false or withhold information.
For this purpose, The General Prosecutor’s Office has set up a special structure tasked with verifying the integrity of public officials.
According to the law, the Central Election Committee sends all self-declaration forms found to have problems to the General Prosecution for further verification and if found to be subject of the law their mandate is terminated.
Roshi is the first high official to be investigated under the decriminalization law, while the special structure established by the General Prosecution Office is expected to publicly announce in following weeks the names of officials affected by the decriminalization law, after which they will be required to give up their positions.
