From: Exit News
9 Albanian Officials Arrested for Public Procurement-Related Abuses

The Special Prosecution against Corruption (SPAK) has arrested 9 current and former public officials for abuses related to a public procurement contract.

The former head for Public Procurement at the Ministry of Interior and several members of the committee for the evaluation of offers at the Public Procurement Agency, were among the arrested.

They were investigated and later arrested for abuses concerning a € 25 million tender for the supply of Albanian police officers with uniforms through 2023.

The General Directorate for the Police issued a request for proposals in 2019 and awarded the contract to a consortium of companies in April 2020.

In August 2020, an opposition parliamentary group reported the tender to SPAK, accusing several officials of “abuse of office”—including the then-Minister of Interior—and alleging that the winner had been pre-selected despite not fulfilling the requirements.