Former Albanian President Ilir Meta was formally charged today with corruption, money laundering, tax evasion and concealing assets from the authorities, his lawyer said.
Lawyer Kujtim Çakrani told reporters that the charges against Meta were laid out in a 192-page report by anti-corruption prosecutors.
The prosecutors are part of the Special Structure against Corruption and Organized Crime, which is responsible for cases involving high-ranking political and state officials.
Meta, the 56-year-old founder of the left-wing Freedom Party who was arrested in October, wrote on Facebook that he was “cannot wait for the start of the trial that will show the world” that the Special Structure is “a puppet of Prime Minister Edi Rama” and his “operational group against the opposition.”
Rama’s Socialist Party won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections on May 11, winning 83 of the 140 seats in parliament.
Meta, the president of Albania from 2017 to 2022, faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted.
His ex-wife, Monika Kriemadi (Kryemadhi), a member of parliament and former leader of the Freedom Party, is also charged with the same crimes as Meta. Two other people linked to the case are charged with money laundering and corruption.
Meta has held almost every high-ranking position in post-communist Albania – he has been a member of parliament, foreign minister, minister of economy, trade and energy, deputy prime minister, prime minister, speaker of parliament and head of state.
Prosecutors accuse Meta of abusing his power as minister of economy, trade and energy to influence various deals in which he and Kriemadi gained large sums of money. In addition, Meta has failed to explain the origin of about $460,000 he used for lobbying in the United States. Both Meta and Kriemadi are also accused of buying real estate with ill-gotten money.
Albania, which began membership negotiations with the European Union last year, has been plagued by corruption in the post-communist era that has undermined its democratic, economic and social development.
Judicial institutions, created with EU and US support, have launched several investigations into former senior government officials on suspicion of corruption.
Former prime minister and president Sali Berisha, now an MP and leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, has also been charged with corruption and is awaiting trial.
