The Bank of Albania has decided to revoke the license of the electronic money financial institution "Soft & Solution", owned by businessman Ermal Beqiri, who was declared wanted as part of the investigations into the AKSHI scandal.
The decision was made after the Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK) issued an arrest warrant against Beqiri in December last year, on charges of participating in a structured criminal group.
Although the allegations are not directly related to the activity of the financial institution, the Bank of Albania has assessed that the entity no longer meets the criterion of appropriate shareholder reputation, an essential requirement for the exercise of financial activity.
"Soft & Solution" was licensed as an electronic money institution in November 2021. However, activity in this field only began last year, when the company began offering payment services through the "ALPay" trademark.
The "ALPay" platform was among the entities connected to the e-Albania system, enabling payments for a range of public institution services.
Meanwhile, the investigative acts against Ermal Beqiri and the company "Soft & Solution" have been merged with the file related to the abuses in the tenders of AKSHI, an institution headed by Mirlinda Karçanaj. According to the investigations, Beqiri, a former public administration employee and then businessman, together with Ergys Agas, is suspected of having led a structured criminal group that exerted pressure on businessmen, forcing them to withdraw from the tender procedures.
The tenders worth tens of millions of euros of the National Agency for Public Investment, according to investigations, have created an oligopolistic situation, where public funds are concentrated in a limited number of private companies, some of which turn out to be interconnected.
