By Muriel
Justice is not measured by the millions it seizes. It is measured by the millions that never return to corruption. This is the difference between a justice that produces statistics for reports and a justice that changes a country. At the heart of every true reform lies that old Latin maxim: “Fiat justitia, ruat caelum” – let justice be done, even if the sky falls. But for this saying to be more than just rhetorical flourish, it requires cold, true institutional accountability.
When the figures for the first half of this year, 2026, were published, under the new leadership of SPAK, the first impression was that of a machine working around the clock. Around 440 million euros in assets seized and confiscated, 16 officials and former senior officials under investigation, dozens of files taken to court.
A few years ago, this would have seemed like a movie script. SPAK has done something that seemed impossible for decades: it has demolished the myth of the untouchable man. Today, ministers, MPs or mayors know that the prosecutor's office is no longer a no-go zone.
This is a historic change. We all know it.
But precisely because this first test was passed, today people's expectations are different. The question is no longer whether SPAK dares to investigate. The question is: Is this changing the way Albania is governed?
This is the second test. And it's much harder.
The figure of 440 million euros sounds great at a press conference. But we, as citizens and journalists, need to look behind the numbers. How many of these millions of euros have actually gone into the state coffers? How many are simply assets temporarily blocked by court order, which could be undone tomorrow in the highest levels of justice?
If we look at last year's annual report, the difference is striking: of the tens of millions reported as blocked, only a ridiculous portion had ended up in final confiscation. The rest remains in a gray area, between paper seizures and endless court battles.
Sequestration is simply stopping the hand that steals. Confiscation is returning money to those to whom it belongs. Until we have a clear separation between the two, large numbers risk being merely reassuring to public opinion.
The same goes for people. 16 high-ranking officials under investigation. Sounds like a lot. But how many of them will actually go to a final conviction, and how many will remain “under investigation” until the story is forgotten by the public? In the past year we saw dozens of officials under investigation, but the number of those who received a final conviction shrank significantly along the way. The audience is always given the beginning of the movie, but rarely is it shown the end.
Likewise, when you read the type of files, you get a feeling of fatigue. Questionable tenders, abuses in the municipality, public procurements with the same schemes, favors in exchange for votes. It's the same stories, the same faces, the same mechanisms that are repeated every year.
This means something painful: SPAK is catching individuals, but the system continues to produce others in their place. The prosecution cannot do the work of parliament, government, or oversight institutions.
But SPAK may require something that is missing today: total transparency.
We don't just want to hear how many millions were blocked today. We want to know how long it takes for an investigation to not become obsolete, how many cases are dismissed on appeal, and how much money actually ends up in the state budget.
An institution that enjoys the trust of the people should not be afraid of these questions. On the contrary, it should ask them itself.
Because the battle is not won just by filling the courtrooms with politicians. The battle is won the day when a regular official thinks twice before signing off on an abuse, not simply because he is afraid of going to jail, but because he knows that the stolen wealth will be taken away, down to the last penny.
On that day, we will no longer be able to measure SPAK's success by the millions seized on paper. We will measure it by the simple fact that corruption is no longer worth it.
