Albania’s Special Appeals Court Against Corruption and Organized Crime (GJKKO) has ordered former Environment Minister Lefter Koka to return to prison in connection with the high-profile Tirana incinerator case, though the ruling has yet to be enforced as authorities say he has been outside the country for months.

According to judicial calculations, Koka still has approximately six months remaining to serve under his sentence related to the Tirana waste-to-energy incinerator project.

Koka had initially been sentenced by the Special Court to two years in prison for abuse of office after a shortened trial procedure. The court also ruled to lift his detention order, concluding that the sentence had effectively been served through time spent in pre-trial detention, leading to his release from prison in December last year.

However, the Appeals Court later overturned the part of the ruling concerning the removal of the security measure, ordering Koka’s return to custody to complete the remaining prison term.

The former minister had spent four years behind bars following his arrest on December 14, 2021, as part of Albania’s sweeping investigation into the controversial incinerator concession contracts.

Court documents issued in December 2025 stated that the security measure tied to the Fier incinerator case was no longer valid after the case was returned for retrial by the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, in the Elbasan incinerator case, Koka was granted conditional release by the Durrës Court.

Koka remains one of the highest-ranking former Albanian officials implicated in the incinerator scandal, facing accusations including abuse of office, money laundering, and corruption.