Anti-corruption prosecutors said they are investigating deputy premier and infrastructure minister Belinda Balluku for violating tender rules, linked to the construction of a road in 2020.

Belinda Balluku with Prime Minister Edi Rama in the Albanian parliament, November 2022. Photo: LSA

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure Belina Balluku on Friday went to Albania’s Special Prosecution Against Corruption and Organised Crime, SPAK, to hear its allegations that she broke public tender rules.

She becomes the highest public official in Albania currently under investigation, accused of “violating the equality of participants in tenders or public auctions”.

Media initially reported that she would go to the SPAK office on Monday this week to be informed of her status as a person under investigation and hear the criminal accusation. However, she missed this because she was attending an event abroad.

She went finally to SPAK’s office in Tirana on Friday, and commented briefly afterwards that she “believes in justice”.

“Belinda Balluku … was notified of the charges and accused of committing the criminal offence of ‘Violation of equality of participants in tenders or public auctions’ in collaboration [with others],” SPAK said on Friday.

It added that she is under investigation concerning her actions as Minister of Infrastructure and Energy regarding public procurement procedures for the construction of a road in 2020.

One of the most important figures in the ruling Socialist Party led by Edi Rama, she has been Minister of Infrastructure and Energy since 2019 and Deputy Prime Minister since 2022.

After Rama was asked about her case on Sunday by Deutsche Welle, he declined to comment on the accusations.

“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.

“Until certain issues take their definitive form, all people are innocent and unpunishable by the people’s court of politics and the media that serve politics,” he added.