Gjovalin Loka, the head of the Public Security Department of Albania’s State Police, has passed vetting.
Loka was a student with the infamous Sigurimi communist secret service until 1990, and then a spy. He had hidden his employment with Sigurimi in the vetting declaration.
One of the two – being a Sigurimi spy before 1990 or hiding information about your past – is enough to get dismissed under the vetting legislation.
Article 38-g of the law states that an official is dismissed if he/she was prosecuted on suspicions of espionage or terrorism, or if he/she was a member, collaborated or was favored by the State Security [Sigurimi] before 1990.
Article 62-b stipulates that officials are dismissed if their vetting declarations contain false information.
Loka was studying to become a spy at the school of Sigurimi until 1990. From January 1991 until June he worked as a spy.
The vetting commission found that Loka had hidden this information from his vetting declaration. However, on Wednesday, they accepted his explanation that he had spied on nobody during his career with the Sigurimi. They also argued that his studies in the Sigurimi school do not count as membership, collaboration with or being favored by infamous state agency. His spying career spanned after 1990 [January-June 1991], so it doesn’t qualify him for dismissal, according to the commission.
