Journalist Klodiana Lala showed on the show “The Unexposed” on MCN TV how organized crime has laundered money in Albania, using banks and currency exchange offices. She showed several cases, even attempting to take a bank director hostage, while officials did not intervene.
“We have one of the DEA agents who has been stationed here for months and is working for criminal groups that are based in Latin America. The risk of dirty money coming to Albania is very high.
We don’t have a clear picture of whether they have hidden assets abroad. Dritan Gjika has no assets seized in Albania. He either has them in crypto or invested in another country.
Armando Pacani, I’ve been to the house where his mother lives, it’s no more than 60 m2, with communist furniture. Authorities say he earned millions of euros from selling cocaine. Where is the money? It’s invested somewhere. We only have the tip of the iceberg.
These groups have a network of experts behind them, lawyers, cooperation with exchanges, banks, and financial authorities.
If you try to deposit 10 thousand euros in a bank, they ask for document after document. Meanwhile, how is it possible to move 1-5 million euros and not a single money laundering officer will notice?
Exchange networks, or notaries, are suspected of being involved in these laundering schemes.
The Pepa group had 4 million euros disappear from the notary’s account, they were planning to take the director of a bank hostage. This may have happened and not been reported.
“The other issue is the implication of officials. A company comes to invest 100 million euros while the company’s balance sheet is very low,” said Lala.