Last night, police have arrested 12 people involved in a criminal scheme to unduly influence judges into granting more lenient sentences to two brothers who have been convicted for murdering a police officer.
The person who masterminded the scheme is prominent publisher and businessman Henri Çili. Çili is the founder and owner of one of the most reputable private universities in Albania, European University of Tirana (UET), as well as owner of the publishing house UET Press, and publisher of daily newspaper Mapo. He stands accused of falsification of documents, fraud, and illegally influencing justice.
Among those arrested are also Çili’s personal driver, UET professor and legal chairman Ilir Korbi, and businessman and contractor Sait Fishta who has run for office before and has been investigated for illegal construction work.
According to BalkanWeb, Çili is suspected of promising to convince a judge to lighten the sentence of brothers Arbion and Alban Aliko, convicted of murdering a police officer and injuring two others during a 2014 anti-cannabis raid in the infamous village of Lazarat, in exchange for money and property from the men’s father.
