April 9, 2025
The Head of the Special Prosecution Against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK), Mr. Altin Dumani, in exercising the powers of the Public Commissioner, authorized Mr. Adnan Xholi, serving as the Chair of the Section Against Organized Crime and Terrorism at the Special Prosecution Office, to represent him before the Appeal Chamber during the judicial review of the appeal against Decision No. 760/2024, of the Independent Qualification Commission, concerning the assessee, Ms. Ardiana Bera, serving as a judge at the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction of Tirana.
During the verification of attendance, the presiding judge informed that the parties had been provided with the respective submissions, as well as with the denunciations lodged to the Chamber. Then, invited the parties to present their positions regarding the appeal grounds and the denunciations.
The Head of the Section Against Organized Crime and Terrorism at the Special Prosecution Office, Mr. Adnan Xholi, adhering to the appeal grounds, determined that, based on the documentation administered thus far, the assessee does not reach a trustable level for confirmation in office. He focused primarily on findings related to the asset criterion and the assessment of proficiency competencies. Mr. Xholi underlined that the assessee retains the right to submit additional evidence and arguments to counter the grounds of appeal particularly those concerning assets and liquidity generated during the years 2003–2007, which will be subject to further evaluated by the Head of the Special Prosecution Office. Concluding his submissions, Mr. Xholi requested the Chamber to amend decision no. 760/2024, of the Independent Qualification Commission, and to dismiss from office the assessee, Ms. Ardiana Bera.
The assessee contested the appeal grounds and, in support of the rebuttals, submitted additional evidence to the Chamber.
The parties also presented their positions on five denunciations filed in March of this year. The Head of the Section against Organized Crime and Terrorism at the Special Prosecution Office assessed that the content of these denunciations did not present grounds for further investigation. The assessee, agreeing with this conclusion, submitted additional evidence to rebut the allegations raised in the complaints.
The hearing proceeded with the case rapporteur questions to both the assessee and the representative of the Special Prosecution Office, focusing on the findings related to assets and proficiency competencies.
Following deliberation, the adjudicating panel decided to admit only those documents submitted in accordance with the legal requirements and ruled out any further investigation into the denunciations, as they reiterated arguments already addressed in the parties’ statements.
In the absence of additional procedural requests, the adjudicating panel declared the judicial investigation closed and invited the parties to present their closing arguments on May 5, 2025, at 12:30.
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.