Former mayor of Lushnje, Fatos Tushe, former vice-mayor Gentian Nushi and 17 other individuals, including municipal officials and business people, has been found guilty of corruption and abuse of a tender related to an irrigation canal.
Tushe was not found guilty of corruption charges but was found guilty of abuse of office in two cases. He was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison, which due to the shortened trial, was converted to two years and four months. Tushe was also deprived of the right to exercise public functions for five years. The court said Tushe abused his office because he allowed construction without a permit.
Nushi was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for the charge of “abuse of office” and “violation of equality in tenders”. The sentence was reduced to one year and eight months and a five-year exclusion from public functions.
The other 17 accused involved in the case, including local officials and businessmen, were also found guilty.
He was arrested on July 6 2021, for “abuse of office”.
SPAK said then that it had started the investigations in 2020 after a referral by the Judicial Police for the criminal offences of “passive corruption”, “violation of equality in tenders”, “abuse of duty”, and “falsification of documents”.
Tushe, a former deputy of the Socialist Party, led the Municipality of Lushnje from 2011 until he was arrested. On December 31, 2019, Tushe was injured after a grenade was thrown into his office by a former municipal driver.
