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The Special Prosecutor's Office, SPAK has formalized the investigations against the former Minister of Health, Ilir Beqaj, with the measure of forcing him to appear before the judicial police and prohibiting him from leaving the country as a person under investigation for abuse of duty in the procedures for the sterilization of surgical equipment.
Security measures for Beqje were approved by the Special Court on November 16.
According to the press release distributed by SPAK, Beqja has been ordered to appear every Friday at the National Bureau of Investigation, not to leave the territory of Albania without the authorization of the court, and is prohibited from using a passport or other means of identification for going abroad .
He is the highest official under accusation for the violations found with the public-private partnership contract of sterilization, after the arrest in August of this year of the businessman Ilir Rrapaj and his deputy in the Ministry of Health, Klodian Rrjepaj.
The 3-year investigations carried out by SPAK have revealed violations of the law in the procedures for awarding one of the most expensive concessions in the health sector, with the sole purpose of declaring the companies of Ilir Rrapaj and the Italian citizen, Umbro Staccini, the winners.
The list of violations contains a feasibility study with false data in violation of the law; drafting the criteria in such a way that they fit the real situation of the pre-selected companies as well as Beqaj's inaction to resolve the conflict of interest between Rrjepaj as the chairman of the concession commission and Rrapaj as its beneficiary.
Legal violations were also found during the negotiation of the concession contract, which, according to the judge, were "clearly in favor of the company declared the winner, to the detriment of the interests of the state".
After the 3-year investigations carried out by SPAK, Beqaj's name was initially absent from the list of persons accused of abuse of office and fraud with serious consequences, but in a decision as a security measure, judge Erion Bani assessed that the violations of legal acts amounted to the level of criminal responsibility for Beqje.
Bani also assessed that the investigations were incomplete and directed the Prosecutor's Office to investigate the case for the criminal offenses of corruption and laundering the proceeds of the criminal offense. After the court's decision, SPAK stated that the investigations into Beqje were in progress.
Ilir Beqaj was elected Minister of Health in the first cabinet of Prime Minister Edi Rama and during his leadership in the years 2013-2017, three concession contracts of tens of millions of euros were signed for health system services. From 2021, Beqaj heads the State Agency for the Strategic Program and Aid Coordination and in October of this year, he became part of the negotiating group for Albania's integration into the European Union./ BIRN
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