The Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction upheld the security measure of "prison arrest" for the former director of the Durrës Post Office, Elisabeta Mataj, accused of stealing 700 million lek from the pension fund and economic assistance for the needy. Her two former subordinates, former treasurer Paola Danaj and former head of finance, Valbona Duni, were left under house arrest. Despite the suspects' claims, the Appeal has assessed that they should remain in restrictive measures, because there are reasonable suspicions, based on evidence, that Mataj and her former subordinates are implicated in the theft of the large sum of money, which until now is not known where it ended up.
Reporting and investigations
The investigation into the case began after a report from the Albanian Post, which conducted a search with a task force at the Durrës Post branch. As part of the investigation, security cameras were seized, which showed that the women were moving monetary values.
Specifically, on 02.04.2026, at 15:28, the head of finance Valbona Duni, together with the finance specialist, take a bag of monetary values, newly arrived with an escort from the bank, to the cash register, in the presence of Paola Danaj. The finance specialist with the bag, together with the head of finance Valbona Duni, go to her office. After a while, the head of finance Valbona Duni takes the bag of monetary values to the office of the director of the Branch, Elisabeta Mataj. At 15:39:08, the director of the Albanian Post Durrës Branch, Elisabeta Mataj, leaves the office with a transparent white bag with items that cannot be determined.
On 14.04.2026, at 13:06, the head of finance Valbona Duni takes a bag of monetary values from the cash register, present Paola Danaj, and enters her office. On 15.04.2026, at 14:13, the head of finance Valbona Duni takes a bag of lek from the cash register, present Paola Danaj, and enters her office. At 14:35, the head of finance leaves her office with a handbag and leaves the work premises.
On 20.04.2026, at 13:39, the assistant treasurer, in the presence of treasurer Paola Danaj, gives the head of finance Valbona Duni about 10 bundles of new 5,000-denomination banknotes in plastic bags, the head of finance takes them and goes to her office.
On 24.04.2026, at 14:15, the valuables escort employee of “N…” comes with two bags from the bank and leaves them with Arka, Paola Danaj present. At 14:18, one of the bags is taken by the head of finance, Valbona Duni, and goes to her office.
On 30.04.2026, at 15:08, the assistant treasurer, in the presence of the treasurer Paola Danaj, fills a bag with valuables and gives it to the head of finance Valbona Duni, who takes the bag and goes to her office.
On 7.5.2026, at 14:41, the head of finance Valbona Duni takes a bag of lek from Arka, present Paola Danaj, and enters her office. Then, at 14:42, with the same bag, she enters the office of the director Elisabeta Mataj. At 14:43, both citizens, Valbona Duni and Elisabeta Mataj, leave the office.
On 08.05.2026, at 13:47, Chief Financial Officer Valbona Duni takes a large bundle of new 5,000-denomination banknotes from the cash register, attended by Paola Danaj, and goes to her office.
On 21.05.2026, at 15:24, the head of finance takes about 12 bundles of 5,000 new lei banknotes from the cash register, Paola Danaj present, and takes them to the office of the Branch Director.
Despite the footage, the former treasurer has stated that the money was taken from the finance chief, Valbona Duni, while the latter claims that former director Mataj embezzled it. Regarding the latter, the prosecution said that investigations have shown that Elisabeta Mataj frequented casinos in Tirana, raising suspicions that she gambled the stolen money.
