Elbasan Prosecution Office has sought “Remand in Custody” for five individuals, including three Italian nationals, and “ House Arrest” for a suspected woman, as part of an investigation into a scheme involving commercial companies set up to avoid tax obligations. The individuals are suspected of committing several criminal offenses, such as failure to pay taxes and tariffs, provoked bankruptcy, fraud, abuse of power, and concealment of income, as stipulated in Articles 181, 193, 143, 164, and 180 of the Albanian Criminal Code.

A well-organized fraudulent scheme was discovered through the investigation of criminal case no. 1462 of 2024, initiated by the Directorate of Tax Investigation and conducted in coordination with Tirana Tax Investigation Directorate and Elbasan Local Police Directorate. 
The investigation revealed that assets, employees, and business activities were systematically transferred from one entity to another to evade tax obligations and fabricate financial operations.
The total amount of unpaid tax liabilities attributed to the involved entities exceeds 14 million Lek. Furthermore, the analysis of bank accounts identified over €2.1 million in withdrawals, which were unjustified and unsupported by any tax-related documentation.

Additionally, regarding this criminal case, Elbasan District Court’s decision no. 351 dated June 2, 2025, placed seven commercial entities, several bank accounts, and ten vehicles under preventive seizure.
The persons subject to the court-ordered security measures are alleged to have acted in complicity with one another and several others as part of a complex fraudulent scheme. The scheme allegedly involved provoking the bankruptcy of existing companies and establishing new entities on paper to evade tax obligations. The entities are directly and indirectly connected, as they operate within the same sector—garment manufacturing—and share the same shareholders, company administrators, and employees across all affiliated businesses.
Through the systematic transfer of assets between these entities and other coordinated financial maneuvers, the suspects are believed to have caused significant economic damage.

Special investigative techniques are being employed in connection with this criminal case, due to strong suspicions that senior public officials may be involved in the scheme, pointing to potential participation of officials from tax and customs agencies, as well as municipal administrations in the cities of Elbasan, Durrës, and Tirana—where the implicated businesses have operated.
Elbasan Prosecution calls on all citizens to report any cases of corruption or abuse of office by public officials, to ensure that they face appropriate legal consequences.