Press Release

Tirana Prposecution Office seeks the imposition of preventive seizure on the quotas and assets (movable and immovable property, ownership titles, etc.) of:

The Legal Entity - Micro Credit Albania, suspected of committing the criminal offense of
 “Fraud with serious consequences, committed more than once and in complicity" as stipulated in Article 143/3 of the Criminal Code, and 

The Legal Entity – Final, suspected of committing the criminal offense of "“Fraud with serious consequences, committed more than once and in complicity" as stipulated in Article 143/3, and "Laundering the proceeds of the criminal offence and criminal activity" committed in complicity as stipulated in Article 287/2 of the Criminal Code.

The investigations revealed that the commercial companies MCA and Final, in collaboration with the company ADCA and several other bailiff companies, as well as with the assistance of an appraisal expert, have devised a fraudulent scheme aimed at stealing and deceiving citizens, estimated to millions of Euros from the outset of their operation (the activity of purchasing and collecting bad loans).

The companies and individuals under investigation have:

•    Illegally used personal data such as: personal or familial phone numbers, civil status data, employment status, etc., belonging to individuals/debtors having no means to sustain their daily lives;
•    Applied psychological pressure and relentless harassment to debtors and their families, aiming to coerce them into signing new loan agreements;
•    Deceived by falsely inflating debt amounts without legal grounds;
•    Seized bank accounts unlawfully and without adequate notice, often leaving debtors below minimum subsistence levels;
•    Disproportionately seized assets that far exceed the owed debt, 

- They have fictitiously "sold/transferred" the debtors' immovable properties into the ownership of MCA through auctions at significantly undervalued prices compared to their actual market value.

The aforesaid actions were undertaken with the intent of pressuring and coercing debtors to take out new loans with inflated principal amounts and significantly high interest rates, misleading them into believing they were "restructuring old debts" or settling obligations at inflated values that did not align with the original executive orders issued by the courts.

Consequently, companies MCA and Final have accumulated illicit income and assets totaling approximately 10 million Euros, obtained through theft and deprivation of citizens, as previously described, these money and assets were invested or used elsewhere.

Based on the analysis of the 2020 criminal proceeding under case number 2123, there is substantial evidence raising doubts that the assets belonging to these companies derive from the criminal offense of " Fraud with serious consequences, committed more than once and in complicity" as stipulated in Article 143/3. Consequently, there are concerns that disposing of these assets could worsen or prolong the repercussions of the criminal offense or potentially facilitate the commission of further crimes. Therefore, these assets are deemed liable for confiscation.