Albanian ex-president Meta held on corruption charges

By Florion Goga

TIRANA (Reuters) -Former Albanian President Ilir Meta has been detained by police over corruption allegations, his lawyer said on Monday, calling the arrest politically motivated.

Meta, 55, who was president from 2017-2022 and now leads the opposition Freedom Party, was returning to capital Tirana from neighbouring Kosovo when police in black masks stopped his car, video showed. 

Police said they had to take him by force.

One of Europe's poorest nations, Albania's politics have been marred by instability and graft since the fall of Communism in the early 1990s. That has hindered its goal to join the EU.

"Meta is accused of charges of passive corruption, failing to declare his wealth and money laundering," lawyer Genc Gjokutaj said after meeting his client.

Meta has previously denied accusations of wrongdoing and his lawyer said years-old falsehoods had been revived as a political move ahead of an April national parliamentary election.

Meta's former wife, Monika Kryemadhi, said on Facebook she was facing similar false charges and had been ordered to report to police regularly, calling that a "farce".

In a statement, anti-corruption prosecution office SPAK, which filed the charges, said that while Meta was an economy minister, he made a "considerable amount of money" in a debt collecting scheme for a foreign company.

It also said that Meta and Kryemadhi also made money thanks to a cellular company deal.

While he was speaker of the parliament, Meta and Kryemadhi, who was also a lawmaker, received a villa from a businessman in exchange of helping him, including changing a law in parliament.

Other charges include illegal payments for a lobbying firm in the United States, buying a 335,000-euro apartment and not declaring more than 100,000 euros for health services in private clinics.

Local media said two other people close to Meta and Kryemadhi were also charged.

Meta, who had previously served as prime minister and parliament speaker, is not the only opposition figure to face criminal allegations.

Last month, Sali Berisha, leader of the largest opposition group, the Democratic Party, was indicted on corruption charges, and a party politician, Ervin Salianji, was jailed for a year for making a "false report" about a former minister.

The Democratic Party accuses Prime Minister Edi Rama of conducting a witch-hunt, which he denies. Rama has been in power since 2013 and plans to run for a fourth term next year.

Meta's Freedom Party said his detention would bring condemnation and street protests.

Romana Vlahutin, a former EU ambassador to Albania, applauded the arrest, saying: "There are no untouchables ... Justice might be slow, but is served eventually."    

(Reporting by Florion Goga, Writing by Fatos Bytyci; Editing by Alex Richardson, Andrew Cawthorne, and Sandra Maler)