TIRANA, July 11 /ATA/- A meeting of the Council of Mandates and Immunity, which convened Tuesday following a request from the Special Structure Against Corruption and Organised Crime, SPAK, to lift parliamentary immunity and authorize arrest of lawmaker Arben Ahmetaj, was postponed to tomorrow upon request by Ahmetaj’s lawyers.
After a four-hour discussion behind closed doors, the meeting of the Council of Mandates and Immunity ended without a decision to resume a day later on Wednesday.
The Assembly said that the Council of Mandates and Immunity heard the arguments presented by SPAK prosecutors, as well as the lawyers of lawmaker Arben Ahmetaj, who demanded more time to review the documentation and the evidence established by prosecutors.
“Therefore, the meeting of the Council of Mandates and Immunity was postponed to tomorrow, July 12, 16:00 hrs,” the Assembly said in a press release.
Gazmend Bardhi, General Secretary of the opposition Democratic Party, told reporters after the meeting that “the majority is giving time Ahmetaj to hide from justice.”
Bardhi said that during the meeting he had asked SPAK prosecutors about Ahmetaj’s whereabouts, but he had received no reply.
Arben Ahmetaj, a long-time member of Albania’s parliament and former Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister is facing a request from prosecutors for his arrest on charges of corruption and money laundering.
Ahmetaj, 54, holds parliamentary immunity, so the Special Structure Against Corruption and Organised Crime, SPAK, has asked parliament for permission to arrest him.
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