Parliament sacks Fullani, as BoA governor placed under house arrest

Officials look for replacements to fill empty seats in supervisory council.
TIRANA, Sept 18 – The Tirana Appeals Court has moved Albania’s central bank governor, Ardian Fullani, from a jail cell to house arrest as he waits for the investigation and trial in connection with the theft of millions of dollars from the bank.
Parliament officially removed Fullani from his post Thursday. The governing Socialist Party majority lawmakers convened and decided to remove him from the post, after the formal request made from the central bank’s supervisory council.
He was arrested on Sept. 5 on charges of abuse of office. In July, a bank employee admitted he had stolen 713 million leks ($6.6 million) in cash from the bank’s vault over four years. Eighteen bank employees, including Fullani, have been arrested since then. Another person, in family ties with the first person declaring the theft has also been arrested.
Fullani has denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyer has intimated the charges are politically motivated.
But he could be faced up to seven years in jail if convicted with this charge. The Court also decided that Fullani cannot talk or meet anyone else other than his family members at home.
The same day Prime Minister Edi Rama called on Albanians working in the international financial system to consider running for the bank’s supervisory board, which also proposes the new governor, then nominated by the country’s president and voted from the parliament.
There have been increasing voices in the country to consider a foreigner to replace Fullani as head of the bank.
That idea was turned down by President Nishani in an interview Monday.
Rama has been speaking through his Facebook social page, first letting know that there would be open some vacancy posts and then urging all Albanians working in international financial institutions to apply. They have time until Sept. 30 to apply.
Rama also met with Nishani on Sunday, the second time in a week, allegedly talking on the new governor. There were no reports coming on that meeting neither from the president nor from the premier’s office.
After firing Fullani, the Parliament has to approve four new board members, including the governor who chairs it under the current law. Board members have to be Albanian citizens, but this does not necessarily apply to the governor.
Last week Rama did not specify anything, just saying the his cabinet was doing its job and not interfering in the bank’s internal affairs.
“We surely want to give the Bank of Albania a governor who will be hailed internationally as an incontestable professional and moral candidate,” he said.