The Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime, SPAK, announced on Wednesday, October 22, the completion of the investigations against 6 defendants accused of “Exercising illegal influence over persons exercising public functions”, “Active corruption of a witness, expert or translator” and “Abuse of office”. Among the six defendants for whom trial is sought, one is a lawyer and another is a police officer.
SPAK announced that the criminal facts against the defendants were discovered during investigations launched in 2019 in cooperation with Italian justice authorities into drug trafficking.
Lawyer Armand Targaj is accused of using the SkyECC application, through which he communicated and took actions for the persons in his defense, thereby exercising illegal influence over public officials. In one case, Targaj is accused of having committed the criminal offense of “active corruption of a witness, expert or translator”.
Meanwhile, during the investigations conducted for drug trafficking, from the wiretaps and surveillance in public places, there is a case of illegal border crossing by the defendant Edison Cukaj (Gjoka). According to SPAK, although Cukaj was aware of the fact that he was not in regular legal conditions to cross the border to move to the ''Schengen'' area, he contacted and was assisted by the defendants Ervis Deti, Serxhio Shkodra, and Bexhed Mema, who are suspected of having requested and received the sum of three thousand euros in order to exercise their influence on the border police officer of the Durrës Port border crossing point, Naim Behluli. "Through the influence exerted on the public official and with full awareness, the border crossing was carried out without obstacles by the defendant Edison Cukaj (Gjoka)", the announcement is quoted as saying.
Border police officer Naim Behluli has been charged with "Abuse of office", while the other four defendants have been charged with the criminal offense of "Exercising illegal influence over persons exercising public functions", committed in collaboration.
According to SPAK, investigations are continuing to identify other persons involved in these criminal activities. /BIRN/
