TIRANA, June 7 – Police have arrested nine people, including officials at the Health Ministry and pharmacy owners, for their involvement in an alleged scheme that cost state coffers 400,000 euros in reimbursements for drugs that were never sold.
Four officials of the ministry and five owners and employees of drug stores have been accused of operating an illegal scheme and stealing 56 million leks. The officials were arrested in what seems to be the largest fraud of its kind to hit the current administration.
The case was first made public by the opposition Democratic Party a couple of weeks ago, but Health Minister Ilir Beqaj said they contacted prosecutors with their suspicions weeks earlier.
Two similar cases of suspected fraud of several million euros are also under investigation, prosecutors said.
Albania provides free or subsidized medical drugs for certain people included in the obligatory health insurance fund by reimbursing pharmacies for certain prescription drugs.
Under the scheme, doctors issue prescriptions to patients who then receive their medicines for free or at a discounted price in pharmacies. The pharmacies are later reimbursed by the Fund for Obligatory Health Insurance.
Authorities had signed four new contracts with pharmacies, two of them in two villages near Tirana that for six months had raised concerns among officials after selling high quantities of expensive cancer medicines.
That concern led to an investigation that the pharmacies were making bogus claims and pocketing the money in the scheme, while bribing the official in charge of giving the bills the green light.
The opposition said the arrests proved their charges against the government, which the opposition accuses as corrupt.
The national coordinator for anti-corruption and minister for local governance, Bledi Cuci, said he praised the prosecutors for the arrests and urged them to investigate current officials and as well officials of the previous government for wrong doings.
