Former Minister of Health, Ilir Beqaj, will be tried separately from his 8 co-defendants for the charges brought against him in the "Sterilization" case.
The case against the former minister was separated after the court accepted the co-defendants' request for a shortened trial. The only one who did not request this form of trial, which in case of guilt reduces the defendant's sentence by 1/3, was former minister Beqaj, who also insisted in Wednesday's session that SPAK had not officially communicated to him the new charge, that of "theft by abuse of office", in the form of a structured criminal group. "In the indictment that I have, the criminal offense 'abuse of office' is noted. Here, 'theft' is not noted anywhere.
“ There is no figure for theft in all this material ,” Beqaj said. Along the same line of reasoning, Beqaj’s lawyer also told the court that it was not clear on which charge he should defend his client on the charge on which the file went to trial, that of “abuse of office.”
The separation of the file also divided into two separate trials former Deputy Minister of Health, Klodian Rrjepaj, and businessman, Ilir Rrapaj, accused of being members of the former minister's criminal group. The charges against the three were requalified during the preliminary hearing, at the court's suggestion, as SPAK had previously requested their trial for "abuse of office", the same charge for which the other six defendants are being tried.
In the next session against the defendants with a shortened trial, Klodian Rjepaj, Ilir Rrapaj, Matilda Serjani, Samir Kadiu, Petraq Mersini, Arben Gjata, Genci Byrazeri and Naile Ajazi, scheduled for June 11, SPAK is expected to present the claim.
Meanwhile, the criminal case against Beqaj will be re-drawn. According to SPAK, the criminal offenses committed by the defendants in both cases were committed during the conclusion of the 100 million euro Sterilization contract. Former Minister Beqaj is suspected of having signed a contract in violation of the law, based on false data in the feasibility study and without avoiding a conflict of interest with businessman Ilir Rrapaj, the winner of the concession. (A2 Televizion)
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