SPAK launches investigation into withholding magistrates’ salaries, Treasury director questioned

After launching an investigation, the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK) has begun questioning people suspected of ordering or deciding that judges’ salaries should not be disbursed.

Journalist Klodiana Lala reports that questioning began with the head of the Treasury. Investigators are expected to follow by questioning other officials from the Ministry of Finance, in order to shed light on the decision-making and procedures followed to withhold the salaries.

So far, the investigation file includes the Constitutional Court’s decision, the decisions of the High Prosecutorial Council and the High Judicial Council, correspondence from the General Prosecutor’s Office regarding the payroll lists, the payroll lists cancelled by the Ministry of Finance, as well as the electronic records from the Treasury system.

The investigation is linked to the criminal complaint filed by the judges over the failure to execute the salary payments. The complaint calls on the prosecution to clarify the circumstances that led to the salaries not being paid and to identify the person or persons responsible for making, communicating or implementing the decision. Among those named in the complaint is Finance Minister Petrit Malaj.