TIRANA, Oct 20 (Reuters) – Prosecutors in Albania have formalised corruption charges against former deputy prime minister Belinda Balluku, whose original indictment a year ago triggered rioting in Tirana.
Balluku, who served as deputy to Prime Minister Edi Rama and also as an infrastructure minister, was charged late last yearwith interfering in the award of two construction contracts in 2021 worth more than €200 million ($225 million).
Corruption in public institutions has been one of the drivers this month of new, student-led protests and rioting in the capital Tirana calling for Rama to step down.
On Tuesday, protesters gathered outside an education ministry building shouting “Balluku to jail!”, and were pushed back by police using water cannon and tear gas.
Balluku, 53, has made no public comment since denying wrongdoing in response to the original charges. Rama dismissed her in February but an attempt to strip her of her parliamentary immunity, which prevents her being arrested, failed. She did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
In an emailed statement to media, the Special Prosecution Office, which handles high-level corruption, said the final charges against Balluku included violation of the equality of participants in public tenders or auctions, and passive corruption of persons including high-ranking state officials.
She was also charged with laundering the proceeds of criminal activity.
“The Special Prosecution Office is continuing to take concrete procedural steps to formally communicate the charges to the other individuals involved in the same criminal case,” it said.
Rama, who has refused to step down, has condemned the violence. He said that the government would consider lowering the age for criminal liability and imposing a social media ban for those under 16 years old to counter the protests.
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(Reporting by Florion Goga and Fatos Bytyci; writing by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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