21 January 2025
The Head of the Special Prosecution Against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK), Mr. Altin Dumani, in exercising the powers of the Public Commissioner, was present today at the Appeal Chamber, to proceed with the judicial review of the appeal against decision no. 730/2024, issued by the Independent Qualification Commission (IQC), concerning the assessee, Mr. Valentin Preçi serving as a prosecutor at the Prosecution Office by the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction of Tirana.
During the verification of the parties’ attendance, the presiding judge informed that, with the end of the Public Commissioners’ mandate , their competencies are now exercised by the Head of the Special Prosecution Office, pursuant to Article 179/b, paragraph 8 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania. Subsequently, the presiding judge informed the parties that the submissions had been made available to them and invited the Head of the Special Prosecution Office to present the appeal grounds.
The Head of the Special Prosecution Office, adhering to all the appeal grounds and referring to the recommendation of the International Monitoring Operation (IMO), deemed that the assessee had failed to disprove the burden of proof regarding the asset assessment criterion and was found to be in a state of insufficient declaration concerning the background criterion. Regarding the conflict of interest, the Head of the Special Prosecution Office requested the Appeal Chamber to take this case into consideration in the overall evaluation of all three criteria, pursuant to Article 4, paragraph 2 of Law no. 84/2016. As for the public denunciations, the Head of the Special Prosecution Office stated that the identified issues should be addressed by the Chamber along with the other findings of a breach of public trust in the justice system. In conclusion, the Head of the Special Prosecution Office requested that the adjudicating panel amend Decision no. 730/2024, of the Independent Qualification Commission, and dismiss from office the assessee, Mr. Valentin Preçi.
The assessee and her legal representative contested the appeal grounds, arguing that they were unfounded and unsupported by evidence. In support of their claims, they submitted additional documents to be admitted as evidence.
Subsequently, the assessee responded to questions addressed by the Head of the Special Prosecution Office and the international observer, contributing to the case review process.
The adjudicating panel, becoming acquainted with the Head of the Special Prosecution Office‘s stance regarding the documents submitted by the assessee, decided to accept them as evidence and to open a judicial investigation. Furthermore, the panel informed the parties that the content of a newly filed denunciation, recently submitted to the Chamber, would be made available to them. The panel scheduled the following hearing to take place on February 5, 2024, at 9:00 a.m., requesting the parties to prepare their positions on the denunciation as well as their final conclusions.
The appeal and the elements of the case have been published on the official SPAK website, in the “Re-evaluation Process” section: https://spak.gov.al/
The Head of the Special Prosecution against Corruption and Organized Crime, in accordance with Article 179/b, paragraph 8 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, has been exercising the powers of the Public Commissioners as of 1 January 2025.
