Today the police “vetting” has started with Oltion Shehu, the Director of the Sector of Compliants of the General Directorate of the Service for Internal Issues and Complaints (ShÇBA) of the Ministry of Interior Affairs.
In May, the External Evaluation Commission (KVJ) had opened the dossiers of 45 high police officials that would be submitted to a reassessment loosely modeled on the vetting of the judiciary. Today, the KVJ also published a second list containing 47 names.
The police vetting was announced by then Minister of Interior Fatmir Xhafaj in October 2017 as a way to address internal corruption and ties with criminal organizations in the police force.
The “vetting” proposed by then Minister Xhafaj follows a pyramidal structure, with a group of five officials headed by the Minister of Interior nominating half of the KJV. The entire police “vetting” will be outside of parliamentary scrutiny.
In March this year, Minister of Interior Sandër Lleshaj proposed that the pyramidal structure would be mainly dismantled, with the KJV only vetting the top echelons of the police and the entire ShÇBA, after which the ShÇBA would take over the vetting of the rest of the police force.
In April, President Ilir Meta vetoed amendments to the police vetting law, declaring that it would bring the police fully under control of the government:
The real purpose of the government is to control this process [the vetting of police] through an evaluation body– the General Directorate of the Service for Internal Issues and Complaints (ShÇBA)– which is a structure actually directly dependent on the political functioning of the Minister of Interior, i.e. the government.
Furthermore, President Meta warned that the vetting could be used as a “punitive or blackmailing mechanism”:
Not determining the closing time for the vetting process creates the ground for this process to be used as a punitive or blackmail mechanism for the entire police structure, which can cause a disturbing situation within the structure.
The KJV consists of the following 15 members:
- Ana Kapaj
- Artur Baku
- Marjeta Gjelaj
- Sonila Kadareja
- Viktor Bërdo
- Ela Kërka
- Elda Kuka (Balili)
- Elida Liko
- Ledian Rusta
- Mirela Ujkani (Miti)
- Elvira Dabërdaku
- Adriana Meko
- Zamira Gjini
- Alban Laska
- Besnik Hodo
