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| Artan Shkëmbi coming out of the Court in Tirana |
It is learned that the Appeal has decided to reject the request of Shkëmbi to revoke the decision of the Court of First Instance for suspension from duty. Initially, the case of Artan Shkëmbi was investigated by SPAK which later declared incompetence and passed it to the Tirana Prosecutor's Office.
According to the SPAK, he is not proven to have committed the criminal offense of corruption. The Special Prosecution Office against Organized Crime and Corruption has been investigating him since September last year when he was suspended. The suspension of Artan Shkëmbi came after information arrived from the German justice, which had requested investigation and cooperation for two Albanian traffickers, Aleksandër Prroni and Klaudio Vukaj.
According to information from the Germans, the traffickers were notified by Shkembi that they had been put under investigation for verifying their properties. Following the SPAK investigation, the Special Court of First Instance for Corruption and Organized Crime decided on September 28 to suspend him. German authorities sought information in Albania about a criminal group and realized that the gang was being informed by a senior police official.
INVESTIGATION IN GERMANY
Criminal proceedings against the Shkembi were registered after the reference by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany to the information received from the office of the liaison officer of this embassy in Albania. According to this information dated 09.09.2020, it turns out that two Albanian citizens suspected of illegal cocaine import were being investigated in Germany.
As part of the investigation that was taking place in Germany, it was found that the suspects were informed about the investigations in their charge, information that is suspected to have been transmitted through an employee of the State Police. According to this information, there is a suspicion that the employee of the State Police has regularly provided information, indirectly, through the contact person or even directly to members of criminal groups.
In these circumstances, in the framework of cooperation, the liaison officer has requested from the Albanian authorities the identification of the employee and the launch of an investigation to verify whether a criminal offense has been committed in support of a criminal organization or structured criminal group. The Hamburg Prosecutor's Office in Germany is conducting investigations against Albanian citizens Aleksandër Prroni and Klaudio Vukaj, as well as other persons suspected of illegal cocaine trafficking, importing significant quantities into Germany.