ALBANIA’S former prime minister Sali Berisha and two others, including his son-in-law, were charged with corruption linked to the privatisation of public land in the capital Tirana, prosecutors said today.

Berisha is charged with “corruption of senior officials” related to the privatisation of a state-owned sports complex “for the benefit of his son-in-law”, according to the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Corruption and Organised Crime.

The acts were allegedly committed in 2008 while Berisha – now opposition leader – was the prime minister.

His son-in-law, Jamarber Malltezi, who was arrested yesterday, has been charged with “corruption and money laundering”, it said.

Malltezi is suspected of having used Berisha’s position as prime minister to privatise the sports complex in Tirana, owned by the defence ministry, and later build apartments on the land.

Berisha has also been banned from leaving the country, the prosecutor said.

The 79-year-old former prime minister rejected the accusations against him as “purely and entirely political” at a press conference, accusing Prime Minister Edi Rama of being responsible.

He said Malltezi was accused only because he was his son-in-law.

Berisha was Albania’s first democratically elected president after the fall of communism in the 1990s.

He was also Albania’s prime minister for eight years until 2013.

Last year, he was banned from entering both the United States and the United Kingdom over his involvement in organised crime and corruption, accusations he rejected.

Washington accused Berisha of “misappropriating public funds and interfering with public processes” to the financial benefit of his family and allies.

Watchdogs regularly rank Albania as one of the most corrupt countries in Europe, and it is also one of the continent’s poorest. – AFP, October 22, 2023.