Albania’s state intelligence chief turned herself in on Tuesday after the country’s corruption prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for her in a graft probe also involving a senior police figure.
Local media reported that Hyseni was not currently in the country. Many state officials and businessmen have been arrested or are under investigation for misuse of public funds in the AKSHI. It is the latest corruption scandal to hit Prime Minister Edi Rama’s government, which has faced months of protests over a controversial resort development in the south of the country backed by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The investigation also targets Ermal Beqiraj arrested in France in late August and businessman Ergys Agasi, who was arrested on August 26. bme-al/ljv This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
The Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organised Crime said in a statement earlier Tuesday that it had ordered the suspension of the State Intelligence Service director Vlora Hyseni and that she be placed under house arrest on suspicion of leaking classified information. The sector head of the Scientific Police Institute has also been arrested, according to the statement. A police spokesman told AFP on Tuesday evening that Hyseni turned herself in to the Albanian authorities at the Morina border post between Albania and Kosovo. Former State Police Chief Ilir Proda, who was dismissed earlier this year, also appeared before SPAK on Tuesday morning in connection with the same case.
Because of her Kosovo nationality and her previous dismissal as the number two official in the Kosovar intelligence services, her appointment sparked criticism in Albania.
Meanwhile, Albanian President Bajram Begaj signed a decree on Hyseni’s dismissal as the state intelligence chief late Tuesday. Hyseni has led Albania’s State Intelligence Service since 2023, directing the agency tasked with protecting national security. SPAK has long been pursuing the case.
Prosecutors said Hyseni is suspected of leaking classified information to unauthorised persons in connection with a corruption case at the National Agency for the Information Society , which manages Albania’s digital public services and IT infrastructure. “Everyone is innocent until the final verdict but no one is above the law in any case or for any reason,” Rama said in a post on X adding that her “release from duty of the service director is immediate”.
