by Eduart Halili */

The Minister of Justice Etilda Gjonaj participated in the special session of the UN General Assembly for the fight against corruption, from where she emphasized that the Albanian government has put the fight against corruption on top of its agenda.

In her speech, Gjonaj said that it is a great privilege to be present in the capacity of the Minister of Justice of Albania, in the session “On challenges and measures to prevent and fight corruption”.

“This meeting serves as a reminder to advance our efforts in preventing and combating corruption, but above all, to renew our commitment at the national and international level to find new ways and means to fight corruption,” she said.

Referring to the topic, the fight against corruption, Gjonaj said that corruption undoubtedly violates the principles of democracy and the rule of law. It touches on the essence of the trust that the citizen gives to the government in order for the latter to fulfill its responsibilities. 

“Albania has suffered extensively from the existence of corruptive phenomena in recent decades, which has hindered the process of democratization, economic growth, quality of service delivery and the performance of the whole society as a whole. For this reason, the Albanian Government has placed the fight against corruption at the top of its political agenda, taking concrete steps through cross-cutting policies, as well as multi-level mechanisms to combat it. We are determined to eradicate corruption and strengthen the rule of law and democracy in our country. IN this context, we saw the acute need for Albania to begin cleansing the Palace of Justice, in order to guarantee the effectiveness of its further anti-corruption efforts in all areas of government action,” she said.

She added that during the last five years, as never before, Albania has undertaken the most radical reform in the justice system, which aimed to restore citizens’ trust in a judicial system based on integrity, transparency, professionalism, efficiency and above all, independence.  

“Justice reform has marked a turning point in terms of intensifying efforts in the fight against corruption and organized crime. In order to crack down on endemic corruption in the judiciary, a unique system of vetting judges was built. In addition, an entire institutional architecture in the fight against corruption and organized crime has already become operational, including a Special Prosecutor for the Fight against Corruption and Organized Crime, special courts, and the National Bureau of Investigation. Such an institutional architecture enables the channeling of punitive efforts, excluding corrupt judges and prosecutors from the system, and ensuring that their corrupt practices are investigated and punished. Now that the justice reform is at an advanced stage of its implementation, we proudly affirm that the results of such a reform have been extremely rewarding and encouraging. “For the first time, senior officials have been fired, prosecuted and convicted of corruption, their assets confiscated and important criminal cases are now being reopened,” she said. 

Also, Gjonaj added that implementing the justice reform in Albania has been a very challenging effort. Nevertheless, through the invaluable support of our intentional partners, the EU and the US, we have managed to rise to a level worthy of this challenge.

“The support of our international partners has been crucial in enabling us to remain firm and faithful to our vision: building a justice system that will end impunity in Albania. It is precisely this renewed justice system that will serve as the basis for building strong and sustainable institutions. The Albanian government, through the full digitalization of public services and through the implementation of accessible reporting mechanisms, has built sustainable instruments that provide citizens with their own protective guard against corruption. Throughout the implementation of our anti-corruption agenda, we have established meaningful cooperation with civil society and the business community in order to understand the types and forms of corruption and to adapt our anti-corruption policies to combat them. Also, we have substantially improved our anti-corruption practices, taking very seriously the recommendations of GRECO and MONEYVAL and we have made significant progress in our joint efforts,” said Gjonaj. 
Albanian Daily News.

*(U perzgjodh nga Rafaela Prifti)