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The head of the Special Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office, Altin Dumani, is on a visit to London to intensify SPAK's cooperation with British law enforcement agencies.
The head of SPAK had a one-on-one meeting with Graeme Biggar, Director General of the NCA, the National Crime Agency, known as the British FBI.
This is the second meeting between them, after the signing of the joint cooperation memorandum in Tirana, in February 2024.
Based on this memorandum, SPAK-NCA joint teams have been set up, where the focus is on Albanian organized crime in Great Britain, and in particular the investigation of money invested in Albania with criminal origins.
In London, Altin Dumani also met with Stuart Skeates, General Director of Operations at the Home Office, who led the battle to stop the illegal immigration of Albanians by dinghies to England.
The SPAK head also had other meetings with the Metropolitan Police, the Ministry of the Interior Home Office, the General Prosecution Home Office, the City of London Police, which leads the investigations of financial and economic crimes throughout Great Britain. Also, at The Royal Institute for Security and Defense Studies (RUSI) (Royal Institute for Security Studies), in a round table with experts and academics, including officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Foreign Office, where the experience of SPAK, challenges and best practices in the fight against corruption and organized crime.
Regarding the importance of SPAK's cooperation with the law enforcement authorities in this round table, Altin Dumani has stated that the institution he leads is dedicated to strengthening the engagement between the United Kingdom and Albania.
"SPAK is committed to strengthening the engagement between the United Kingdom and Albania in judicial and law enforcement cooperation and sees the partnership with the United Kingdom as vital in the fight against transnational organized crime and corruption. Due to their complexity and transitional nature, it is more than clear to SPAK that no single country can deal with organized crime, corruption, human trafficking, financial crime or cybercrime alone. We appreciate today's opportunity to engage with different actors and it is important that we continue the exchange of knowledge between the United Kingdom and Albania so that we can jointly address some of these issues through mutual cooperation." , Dumani said.
While Dr. Fabian Zhilla, Legal Advisor of SPAK, spoke about the challenges of investigating Albanian organized crime that has taken on international dimensions.
Dr. Andi Hoxhaj OBE, professor at University College London, who attended this visit of SPAK head Altin Dumani, said that SPAK has a close level of cooperation with the English authorities.
"SPAK under the leadership of Duman and the results it has achieved in the last two years in the fight against organized crime and corruption has gained a lot of respect and trust from law enforcement agencies such as the NCA, the Home Office, the Metropolitan Police and the CPS Prosecution. This cooperation has now been raised to a closer level of cooperation, where information is shared and they are working closely to address the fight against organized crime", he told TCH.
Great Britain, says Andi Hoxhaj, previously did not have a trust that shared information, and now it is not only sharing with SPAK, but also closely cooperating with joint teams.
"This is a positive development as now Britain has realized that some of the challenges they have in relation to money laundering, the organization of illegal immigration and organized criminal groups cannot be addressed by Albania alone and SPAK has shown you that it is a partner of credible to address issues that pertain to both countries.
The visit was positive to sensitize the high official to break the image, beyond the stigma that has been created and the Albanian communities in Britain have been afraid in recent years, that Albania has serious institutions that want to work closely with Britain to bring to justice those who are really involved in illegal activities and differentiate themselves from the honest Albanians who live and work in this country", says Andi Hoxhaj.
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