Press Release

Tirana Prosecution Office, regarding the criminal case no. 6684 from the year 2023 referred  from the Tax Investigation Directorate, demanded stringent security measures for seven individuals, including a former employee of the National Business Center, for the Criminal Offense of " Creation of fraudulent schemes regarding value added tax " as stipulated by Article 144/a of the Penal Code.

Upon thorough examination of the evidence, it was proven that 17 commercial entities were deceitfully established and registered through forgeries. These entities were solely comprised of foreign shareholders, administrators, and board members, coming from diverse countries such as Cuba, Spain, Germany, Croatia, Malta, Belgium, Italy, India, and Bangladesh.

These 17 fictitious entities conducted ficticious transactions amounting to 200,000,000 lek, inflicting damage to the state, estimated at 60,000,000 lekë. Further scrutiny revealed that these entities,  never maintained any workforce, assets, or secondary premises to substantiate their claimed operations. Notably, investigations using the TIMS system revealed that none of the 15 foreign nationals who signed the registrations of these entities with the National Business Center ever set foot on Albanian territory. Moreover, documentation submitted to the National Business Center, secondary-level banks (in terms of payement mandates), and the appointment of expert accountants in their statutes were proven to be fraudulent.

In total, the fictitious entities have transacted a sum of 192,622,898 lek (data from the self-declaration). Notably, these transactions, suspected to be entirely counterfeited, were exclusively invoiced to an entity operating within the chromium industry.

The individual under investigation, identified as citizen A. D. (formerly employed as a specialist at the National Business Center in Vlorë), was found to have facilitated the registration of four trading entities under the JSC status (joint stock company). Additionally, another individual under investigation, citizen A. Ç. (an economist), was implicated in creating circumstances to supplying third-party entities through the use of fictitious entities, for which he had access to their systems and tax documentation (VAT blocks) .

As stated above, the prosecution suspects that citizens A.Ç., A.D., M.L., A.A., R.R., A.A., F.D., should be investigated for committing the criminal offense of "Creating fraudulent schemes regarding to value-added tax" as stipulated by articles 144/a, 180, 300, and 190 of the Penal Code, and demands:

The imposition of the security measure of "remand in custody" for the the person under investigation A.Ç. concerning the offense envisaged by Article 144/a of the Penal Code.

The imposition of the security measure of " Duty to appear at the judicial police " for the person under investigation A.A. concerning the offense envisaged by Article 300 of the Penal Code.

The imposition of the security measure of " Duty to appear at the judicial police " for the person under investigation M.L. concerning the offense envisaged by Article 300 of the Penal Code.

The imposition of the security measure of " Duty to appear at the judicial police " for the person under investigation R.R. concerning the offense envisaged by Article 300 of the Penal Code.

The imposition of the security measure of "Duty to appear at the judicial police" and "Prohibition of leaving the country" for the the person under investigation F.D. concerning the offense envisaged by Article 300 of the Penal Code.

The imposition of the security measure of "Duty to appear at the judicial police" and "Prohibition of leaving the country" for the the person under investigation A.A. concerning for the offense envisaged by Article 300 of the Penal Code.

The imposition of the security measure of "House arrest" for the person under investigation A. D. concerning the offense envisaged by Articles 190 and 300 of the Penal Code.