The Prosecutor’s Office at the Tirana Court of First Instance has requested the detention measures "Arrest in prison" and "House arrest" for nine individuals. They are accused of engaging in the criminal act of 'Fraudulent and Pyramid Schemes,' as outlined in Article 143/a, paragraph 2 of the Penal Code of Albania, following a criminal complaint filed by the Ministry of Justice on February 25, 2020, against entities including Micro Credit Albania, ADCA, SHP Zig, FS, and FLASH, as well as their enforcement officers, local media say.
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Investigations revealed that these companies had taken 3,999 bad and unpaid loans from ProCredit Bank amounting to a total of 7,299,203 euros. They then employed a coercive lending scheme, where through fraudulent means, they forced debtors with old bank debts to take new loans, despite their inability to repay. The enforcement companies would then seize wages, properties, or vehicles from the debtors.
To liquidate these purchased loans, theft was allegedly used, compelling creditors to take new loans from Micro Credit Albania (MCA) to unblock their assets temporarily. However, MCA would later demand further sums for the liquidation of these new loans.
This scheme was used on various borrowers, resulting in significant financial damage to individuals and private and public entities. These financial institutions also imposed a late payment interest rate of 2% + 8% per year. According to the accounting expert's report, the initial principal obligation for all orders with MCA as the creditor amounted to 575,842,669.60 lekë, with the total legal late payment interest amounting to 258,687,709.07 lekë.
Investigative acts have also documented instances of unjustifiable conservative seizures of real estate, extending even to individuals unrelated to the judicial decisions. A typical case involved the seizure of 14 real estate properties of an individual for a past due amount of 347,958 lekë.
The prosecutor’s office has substantiated through concrete actions that enforcement officers A.M., A.K., and A.T. have engaged in the criminal act of 'Abuse of Office' as per Article 248 of the Penal Code.
Additionally, evidence showed that enforcement officer K.S. is suspected of committing the criminal act of 'Theft,' as outlined in Article 134/2 of the Penal Code.
Moreover, administrators of the enforcement companies Star-FS, A.D., A.G., and E.M., are suspected of committing theft as per Article 134/2 of the Penal Code. Similarly, E.I., the administrator of MCA, is also suspected of committing theft under the same article.
Given these findings, the Prosecutor’s Office at the Tirana Court of General Jurisdiction deemed it appropriate to impose restrictive security measures under Articles 228 and 229 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The court has decided as follows:
1. Imposition of the security measure "Arrest in prison" for A.D.
2. Imposition of the security measure "Arrest in prison" for A.G.
3. Imposition of the security measure "Arrest in prison" for E.M.
4. Imposition of the security measure "House arrest" for K.S.
5. Imposition of the security measure "House arrest" for E.I.
6. Imposition of the security measure "House arrest" for J.D.
7. Imposition of the security measure "Arrest in prison" for A.M.
8. Imposition of the security measure "Arrest in prison" for A.K.
9. Imposition of the security measure "House arrest" for A.T.
All are suspected of committing the criminal act of 'Abuse of Office' as per Article 248 of the Penal Code.