December 12 (SeeNews) - Albania's former prime minister Sali Berisha on Tuesday confirmed media reports that the country's anti-corruption body, SPAK, is seeking parliament approval to put him under house arrest for allegedly assisting his son-in-law in unlawfully benefitting from a privatisation deal.
Berisha will accept any parliamentary decision concerning the lifting of his immunity as an independent member of parliament, despite considering the whole affair an unconstitutional move steered by his political opponent, current prime minister and Socialist leader Edi Rama, he said during a news conference, as seen in a social media video.
Documents made public by local media show that SPAK has requested parliament to change the existing measure of restraint against Berisha from a ban to leave the country to house arrest, based on proof gathered during an investigation of allegedly helping his son-in-law illegally obtain 673 million leks ($7.1 million/6.6 million euro) from a 2008 privatisation deal. The move follows Berisha's non-compliance to engage in court meetings mandated by SPAK in an October decision.
Evidence suggested that while serving as prime minister, Berisha made regulatory changes to push the privatisation of a sporting club which his son-in-law then turned into a residential complex, obtaining profits without actually investing in the project, SPAK said in October.
Sali Berisha is one of the most prominent figures in Albanian politics. He served as the first non-communist president of Albania from 1992 to 1997 and then as prime minister from 2005 to 2013. He is the founder of Albania’s Democratic Party (PD), which he led from 1997 until his resignation in 2013.
Berisha returned to PD and was elected member of parliament from PD in the 2021 general election, before being expelled from the party's parliamentary group following disagreement with then party leader Lulzim Basha.
In May 2021, the US State Department extended sanctions on Berisha, including a ban on entering the US, citing his involvement in corruption while in office.
(1 euro = 102.048 Albanian leks)