Albania’s General Prosecutor’s Office has prioritized keeping the institution out of the influence of politicians and crime, while focusing their fight on tax evasion and money laundering.
General Prosecutor Olsian Çela emphasized the two important issues during an interview for Euronews Albania on Tuesday.
He said that securing his institution’s independence is a key factor in assessing the success of the justice reform. His work has concentrated on strengthening prosecutors’ independence from internal hierarchical interference, as well as from external political, business and criminal influences.
Asked by the journalist on whether he was faced with such influences in his work, Çela said no, explaining that he has been strict from the beginning in his approach to strengthen the institution’s independence.
“What I can do in this regard is to take all possible measures so that we do not have cases of political interference, from businesses or other external elements, in the investigation process, in the process of appointments of the heads of the prosecution, or the transfer of prosecutors,” Çela highlighted.
Secondly, the General Prosecutor stressed the institution’s fight against financial crimes in Albania.
He said they have established special prosecutors’ units in the seven main districts in the country to specifically fight money laundering and investigate criminal assets. Following agreements signed with government agencies and the freedom and independence provided to prosecutors, the results now depend on the latter ones, he stated.
“I believe that there is a lot of work to be done and we are all aware that the situation related to tax evasion in Albania or the amount of money coming from criminal activities is worrying. So it is up to [prosecutors] already, to give results,” he concluded.
