The Court of Tirana has sentenced Italian businessman Francesco Becchetti to 17 years in prison for money laundering, document forgery, and tax fraud.
In December 2021, Albanian prosecutors had presented a request against Becchetti, asking for him to be sentenced to 20 years.
In April, an arbitration panel ordered Albania to pay Becchetti €110 million for the “politically motivated” government closure of his Agon television channel in 2015.
An ad hoc panel of International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), an arbitration court, rejected a request by the Albanian government for the annulment of the court’s decision in April 2019 to award Bechetti €110 million. This is a final decision by the arbitration court.
In early October, the Democratic Party (PD) requested that Parliament set a committee of inquiry to investigate the Albania’s government responsibility in this case. The ruling Socialist Party rejected the request citing confidentiality.
