The Albanian police has confirmed that former Socialist MP Alqi Bllako is under custody but failed to clarify media rumors claiming he had gone into hiding for 12 hours after an arrest warrant was issued against him on charges of corruption.
Last evening, Albanian was inundated with news that Bllako had allegedly gone into hiding, most probably out of Albania. The claim relied on reports saying that the police was unable to find and arrest him in his apartment, as well as on a social media post by his lawyer showing a picture of the sky taken from inside a flying plane with the description “Ciao, hugs!”
After more than 10 hours of silence, despite all televisions talking of Bllako’s alleged escape, on Friday morning the police announced Bllako had turned himself in the night before and was in custody.
On Thursday, the Albanian court approved a prosecution request to arrest Bllako, after the parliament gave the green light following the MP’s resignation one day earlier.
In their Friday morning announcement the police said “Alqi Bllako turned himself in, complying with the legal requirement for his prison arrest warrant.”
It didn’t clarify why the police didn’t arrest the former MP on Thursday, immediately after the warrant was approved by the court at about 15.30, or whether he went into hiding during the time between the court’s ruling and his decision to turn himself in— a period of about 12 hours according to media reports.
In addition, the government has not commented on why it didn’t clarify the situation regarding Bllako’s whereabouts for the press between last evening and this morning, despite all television channels and online media talking almost exclusively about the former MP’s alleged escape from his dwelling.
Bllako faces charges of corruption and abuse of office in relation to a contract for the construction of a waste incinerator granted to a private company by the Albanian government when he was the secretary general of the ministry of environment—officially a nonpolitical position.
Under the fresh government of Prime Minister Edi Rama in 2013, he was trusted with the highest public administration position in the ministry at the age of 26, in breach of a number of laws regulating career in the sector.
Prosecutors consider Bllako a key figure in advancing the granting of three concession contracts for the waste incinerators now under investigation—a suspected major corrupted affair of the Rama government estimated to be costing €430 million in public money.
In 2021, Rama made Bllako an MP of his Socialist Party for his third term in office, despite media allegations since 2017 on his involvement in a major corrupted affair, and related investigations by the prosecution.
The Albanian opposition accuses Prime Minister Edi Rama of having led a group of politicians, public administration officers, and businessmen in one of the biggest corruption affairs in the history of the country’s governments by awarding his cronies three concession contracts for waste incinerators amounting to at least €430 million.
Read more: Government Officials Defend Waste Incinerators in Parliament Testimonies
