DEBATE/ Seized Assets: DP MP Says Former Owners Benefit Through Schemes; AAPK Head Xhaja: “I Have No Evidence of That”

A debate on the administration and use of seized and confiscated assets took place in the Commission for Civic Initiatives, Cooperation and Institutional Oversight, chaired by Fatmir Xhafaj.

Democratic Party MP Gjin Gjoni raised concerns about possible cases where former owners might again benefit from seized assets, while the chief administrator of the Agency for the Administration of Confiscated Assets, Risena Xhaja, explained the procedures for leasing and using these properties.

Chairman Xhafaj also had questions, TCH informs.

Debate in the Commission:

Gjoni: I have information that a large part of the seized assets end up in the hands of those from whom they were seized, through various ways, at a modest price. Do you have information about this and should legal adjustments be made for this issue? Are there seized assets that have been made available to social strata in Lezhë county?

Xhaja: For the beneficiaries, it is true that I have heard they pass through third parties to the first holders of the assets. Information about confiscated and seized assets has been very closed. To date, I have no evidence of such beneficiaries. When the lessee fills out the declaration, it is then his responsibility and that of the investigative bodies. This is our procedure; the lease is one-year.

Gjoni: I know of a concrete case where the person who owned the property rented it and there is no way he could denounce…

Xhaja: We ensure that the former owner has not taken the asset into use — that is all the law can do. So far it has resulted that the persons who rented them are not the same. As for the courts, only the Court of First Instance has requested archive offices; we are looking into it. There has been financing: the GJKKO has been reconstructed with these funds. The Court of First Instance and the Tirana Prosecution have also benefited. In Lezhë there have been no requests from agencies to use the seized premises.

Gjoni: Can the seized apartments be made available to the strata in need?

Xhaja: They are used only for the needs of vulnerable strata and of police officers fallen in the line of duty.

Xhafaj: You are the administrator; it is not your merit that the objects or money were seized. Your duty is administration, so that those assets do not lose value. The question is how much can the police help? Another is how many assets go in favor of victims? How many assets are used for a preventive effect? There is also a high cost of administration on your part. And how many objects are suitable that could be made available to judicial institutions? We have several courts with capacity shortages. Could there be land regarding the possible construction of these institutions?

Xhaja: Currently the assets under administration are commercial units and apartments, but also pastures. We have no spaces to make available to the courts. Institutions we have accommodated have been villas and commercial units. We also call on institutions that need land. Regarding administration costs, I am satisfied they have been reduced, even though the number of employees has increased. The guards part had an impact, since by leasing them out their number has been reduced. We have also placed deposits in lek and we take a very large percentage of interest on them. I do not have the figure of how many assets have been put into use, but the largest part goes to the community. Institutions request land mostly for logistics. We want to make a different way of how we should sell real estate assets. We have not sold assets for 3 years; we are waiting for the Supreme Court decision to define this process.