TIRANA, May 15 – Albania’s temporary General Prosecutor Arta Marku notified on Monday the suspension from duty of prosecutor Rovena Gashi and her husband, First Instance Court prosecutor Dritan Gashi.
According to the official statement, the decision results from a Durres General Prosecution Office investigation, which has concluded the spouses have refused to declare or have intentionally hidden their wealth and private interests.
Rovena and Dritan Gashi are suspected to have hidden real estate — a number of apartments — by not signing them under their names but under those of their relatives.
Marku and Rovena Gashi were under media spotlight a few months ago, when R. Gashi, former director of the decriminalization unit and foreign affairs office in Tirana’s General Prosecution, sued Marku for demoting her and lost the first court hearing.
At the time, Marku was sued for lowering R. Gashi in rank “unconstitutionally” — in a wave of transfers ordered by Marku, but her suit didn’t hold up in court.
Recently, however, a new wave of transfers and demotions marked the prosecution’s ranks, with the most noteworthy being the demotion of the head of the Serious Crimes Prosecution Office Besim Hajdarmataj on Wednesday, replacing him with Durres chief prosecutor Donika Prela.
Rovena Gashi, on the other hand, was one of the the prosecutors whose US visas were cancelled last year. Former General Prosecutor Adriatik Llalla was also on the list and both he and his family were declared as banned from traveling to the US due to suspicion of being involved in corruption.
Temporary GP Arta Marku was sworn in amid protest last December, as clashes took place both inside and outside parliament, with opposition MPs throwing smoke bombs and protesters sporadically clashing with police.
