The 2008 economic crisis that also affected Albania left behind around 1.1 billion euros in bad loans. Non-performing loans, which in 2015 amounted to 25% of the total, brought the country's banking sector to its knees. With the philosophy "where there is a crisis, there is also an opportunity", the first companies began to be created in the country that bought bad loans from banks, at low interest rates, writes A2 CNN.
These institutions then, with the help of private enforcement offices, forced citizens to pay large sums of money or else their homes and vehicles would be seized.
An administrative investigation conducted by the Ministry of Justice in 2020 revealed that around 17,000 individuals were harmed by unfair fines and property seizure in a debt collection scheme involving the company "Micro Credit Albania" as well as a group of private enforcement offices, notaries and other companies affiliated with it.
On the other hand, the investigation conducted by the Tirana Prosecutor's Office assessed that the Bank of Albania and its governor could be held responsible for delayed or inadequate measures to curb this scheme. Although it was reported in 2020, the microcredit scandal expanded and became sophisticated under the noses of law enforcement institutions, causing extremely serious consequences for thousands of borrowers and pushing one of them to commit suicide. Pal Trashaj drank fostoxin in protest in the SPAK courtyard, reports A2 CNN.
At the end of July last year, the President of the Republic, Bajram Begaj, through an unprecedented letter, asked the Parliament to investigate the role of the Bank of Albania in the so-called "microcredit scandal".
Earlier, in May, the Bank of Albania revoked the licenses of two non-bank financial entities, namely the companies "Final" and "Micro Credit Albania", due to abuses in granting loans.
Today the panorama is clearer. The Special Prosecution Office Against Corruption and Organized Crime has concluded investigations into a structured criminal group of 16 individuals and 4 companies accused of fraud with serious consequences through microcredit schemes and the collection of financial obligations, reports A2 CNN.
According to SPAK, the group operated as a single structure, using the same computer system, sharing financial resources and circulating staff between entities, in function of a criminal scheme aimed at illegal enrichment at the expense of citizens in economic difficulties.
(A2 Televizion)
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