Adriatik Llalla
 |
Adriatik Llalla | |
|---|---|
| Prosecutor General of Albania | |
| In office 22 November 2012 – 18 November 2017 | |
| President | Bujar Nishani Ilir Meta |
| Preceded by | Ina Rama |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Gramsh, Albania |
| Alma mater | University of Tirana |
| Occupation | Attorney |
Adriatik Llalla is an Albanian judge who has served as the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Albania between 2012 and 2017.
Career
After graduating in law at the Law Faculty of the University of Tirana, he started his professional career as Judiciary Police Officer in the Judiciary District Prosecution of Lushnjë, in January 1998. Furthermore, he was nominated prosecutor in this prosecution, where he worked in the 1999–2002 period. Llalla worked as a prosecutor in the Prosecution Judiciary District of Kavajë between the years 2002 and 2003. In 2003 he was appointed as head of Fier Judiciary District Prosecution holding this office until 2005. He held the office of the deputy head prosecutor in the Judiciary District Prosecution of Tirana in the 2005–2008 period.
In 2006 he was elected member of the Council of the Prosecution and in the 2007–2008 period he has chaired the Council of the Prosecution. On October 2008 he was elected as the Head of the High Inspectorate of the Declaration and Audit of Assets, where he served until 2010. On 4 May 2010, he was elected as head of the Integrity Experts Network and after that as General Prosecutor of Albania.[1]
Prosecutor General
He was appointed in 22 November 2012, to replace Ina Rama, who had finished her mandate. Under the new constitutional changes, the prosecutor’s role will be restructured in their leading level and a new organization is predicted.[2]
He vowed to investigate corrupt politicians but no prosecution happened during his time in office. In the last months of his mandate, Llalla claimed that members of organized crime threatened him and his family and that his family had left for Europe to seek asylum. During the last months in office, Llalla met his German counterpart, Harald Range, to assess the cooperation between German and Albania judicial authorities, focusing on the matter of terrorism and recruitment of foreign fighters.[3]
Corruption and money laundering scandal
In 2017 the US Ambassador to Tirana, Donald Lu, accused Llalla of being an "enemy of the Justice Reform" – the flagship reform program that Albania is implementing, aiming to clean up the notoriously corrupt justice system.
In February 2018 the US State Department announced that the then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had designated Adriatik Llalla and his family as corrupt foreign officials, thereby banning them from entering the country.[4][5]
Later in April, Prosecution accused him of refusing to declare his assets, money laundering, and other financial crimes. The court seized "moveable and real estate assets" worth 98.7 million leks ($915,000). The property includes an apartment in the northwestern seaside city of Durres and more than two hectares (4.9 acres) of land.[6]
In May local media announced that he had escaped to Germany together with his family, where he had sought political asylum.
References
- ^ [1], Prokuroria e Përgjithsme (in English)
- ^ http://www.oranews.tv/ora-english/prosecutor-general-held-a-meeting-with-local-prosecutors/
- ^ "General Prosecutor, Mr. Adriatik Llalla, meets the Federal Prosecutor of Germany, Mr. Harald Range". www.pp.gov.al. Retrieved 2017-07-20.
- ^ https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2018/02/278338.htm
- ^ http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/us-state-department-bans-albania-former-general-prosecution-from-entering-us-02-15-2018
- ^ http://www.worldbulletin.net/headlines/204350/albania-seizes-assets-of-former-top-prosecutor