TIRANA, March 26 – Albanian lawmakers have approved a request by the General Prosecutor’s Office for permission to arrest two lawmakers, Tom Doshi and Mark Frroku, who prosecutors believe lied to law enforcement officials investigating claims by Doshi that he and another MP had been a target of assassination ordered by the speaker of parliament.
The two MPs were arrested by police shortly after the parliament’s decision.
The recommendation to give prosecutors permission to arrest came from the Parliamentary Regulatory Council on Mandates, a group of MPs that after a five-hour public hearing decided to side with the prosecutors. Doshi attended the hearing, while Frroku was represented by a lawyer.
Prosecutors told the council the two MPs are suspected of criminal offenses tied to filing false charges and making “false statements to prosecutors.”
Doshi said the request was politically motivated and added prosecutors had manipulated the facts. He said a key witness that had recanted his original story that corroborated Doshi’s version of events, Durim Bami, had changed his story because threats had been made to his family.
The request to make the arrests comes following an intense three-week investigation that started after Doshi claimed publicly that Parliament Speaker Ilir Meta had allegedly offered an assassin €600,000 to murder Doshi and another MP, Mhill Fufi of the opposition Democratic Party.
Doshi made the claims after he was expelled from the ruling Socialist Party’s parliamentary group. He then said Frroku, another ruling coalition MP and a personal friend, was the one who had warned him of the plot. Frroku has publicly denied any involvement.
The General Prosecutor’s Office noted that “the investigation has found reasonable doubt” that Doshi “fabricated the story.”
It added that there was no concrete and reliable proof that the plot to assassinate Doshi was real.
The two MPs face up to five years in prison if convicted in the case.
The investigators have concluded that Doshi and Frroku made up the story with the help of Bami, the would-be assassin who Doshi said had warned Frroku instead of carrying out the attack.
Bami is currently under arrest and accused of false testimony. He was shown in a video to validate Doshi’s accusations but then changed his story, telling prosecutors that Doshi had forced and paid him to corroborate the accusations.
Prosecutors questioned Meta, Prime Minister Edi Rama, his Democrat predecessor Sali Berisha and tens of others before deciding to ask for the “authorization for the arrest” of the lawmakers.
The decision came after 80-0 and 79-1 vote on Thursday. Doshi was not present at the session, while Frroku called on his colleagues not to vote the prosecutors’ request.
Though the opposition said it supported the prosecution’s request, the opposition MPs left the hall and did not take part in the vote saying they did not want “to be part of the farce.”
There can’t be a real investigation as long as the speaker [of parliament] keeps the post,” said Democratic Party MP Eduard Halimi.
