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Albania’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure Belina Balluku visited the country’s anti-corruption prosecution office on October 31 after being accused of breaking public tender rules, a statement from the Special Prosecution Against Corruption and Organised Crime (SPAK) said.
Balluku, one of the most senior figures in Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party, is the highest-ranking Albanian official currently under investigation.
SPAK said she is suspected of “violating the equality of participants in tenders or public auctions”. The inquiry concerns Balluku’s actions in 2020 as minister of infrastructure and energy regarding public procurement procedures for the construction of a road, allegedly in collaboration with others.
Speaking briefly after her visit on October 31, Balluku said she “believes in justice”, Balkan Insight reported.
When asked by Deutsche Welle about the investigation, Rama declined to comment directly on the case. “I don’t have a comment on any [legal] case because, as I have already said, we have our work, justice has its work,” he said. He added that until legal proceedings are concluded, all citizens are considered innocent.
Balluku has held the infrastructure portfolio since 2019 and was appointed deputy prime minister in 2022.
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