The Special Prosecution Against Money Laundering and Organized Crime (SPAK) has seized the bank accounts of Albanian cardiac surgeon Edvin Prifti.
In February, SPAK seized EUR 380,000 in cash. The prosecution also filed a case against him and two nurses for corruption. Large amounts of cash were found at his home and his office in the Mother Theresa public hospital in Tirana.
SPAK then arrested him for corruption as well and called for him to be detained in prison. An appeal made in the Special Court of Appeal, overruled the decision and he was released.
The investigation against the surgeon started after the wiretappings with the court secretary of Kruja, Enkelejda Hoxha, also suspected of corruption. They suggested she had illegally paid the surgeon to perform surgery on her mother.
SPAK announced on Friday that the investigation had found new evidence that led to suspicions he had set up a “criminal scheme” whereby he filed false tax invoices to avoid paying tax. They also said he had opened up accounts in various second-tier banks and made a number of cash deposits. SPAK believes these to be the product of criminal activity and has asked the court to seize and freeze them to the value of EUR 177,497.
Lawyers for Prifti claim the deposits were legitimate and they are happy to provide evidence to that effect.
