Press Release

Shkodra Prosecution Office has taken to the court  9 (nine) officials and former officials from the Territorial Defense Inspectorate (TDI) and the State Cadastral Agency for the criminal offense of 'Abuse of Office' committed in complicity as stipulated in Articles 248 and 25 of the Criminal Code.

Employees of the Inspectorate of Territorial Defense (TDI) at Shkodër Municipality are accused of allowing illegal construction of a two-story building in Shiroka area of Shkodër through their actions and inactions, contrary to the law. Despite being aware of the situation, they did not document or report it to the prosecution office. Meanwhile, employees of the State Cadastral Agency in Shkodra are accused of facilitating the legalization of several unauthorized buildings in the same area, despite its special protected status where legalization of informal structures is prohibited by law.

The citizen A.D., upon discovering the illegal construction of a two-story building in Shiroka, being built by S.K. on the land claimed to belong to the complainant's family, reported to the prosecution that TDI employees at Shkodër Municipality had failed to take action to prevent the construction, despite receiving repeated notifications from her.

The investigations, under criminal case No. 1179/2021, revealed that the inspectors E.K. and M.H. of TDI, Shkodra Municipality, in spite of receiving information on the illegal construction and being responsible for verifying the complainant's reports, failed to document it in an official report. Instead, they reported no new construction was observed, while police investigations confirmed the presence of the newly built structure. Additionally, the builder, citizen S.K., was fined for undertaking the illegal construction.

After investigating the legalization of the informal building constructed by citizen S.K., and conducting further inquiries into 9 (nine) other cases of informal building legalization in Shiroka, it was determined that these legalization procedures were iligitimate. The area where these buildings are located holds a special protected status as a managed nature reserve, thus prohibiting their legalization. Charges have been filed against defendants A.D., B.L., E.B., F.T., I.SH., S.S., and B.K., who held responsible roles in the legalization sector at the State Cadastral Agency in Shkodër, during the relevant procedures’ termination.