The Special Prosecution against Corruption (SPAK) has placed the Director of the National Agency for the Information Society (AKSHI), Mirlinda Karçanaj, under house arrest, as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged abuses in public procurement procedures.

Karçanaj appeared at SPAK several days ago in connection with investigations into suspected irregularities in tenders conducted by the institution she leads. On 3 December, she remained at SPAK headquarters for more than three hours, leaving without making any comment to the media and avoiding journalists’ questions.

SPAK is investigating 12 tender procedures suspected of being pre-determined, involving high-value contracts mainly linked to the maintenance of servers used by key state institutions. Investigators believe the tender criteria may have been dictated by participating companies, creating conditions for guaranteed profits worth millions of euros.

One of the businessmen under investigation is Ermal Beqiri, owner of the company Soft & Solution, who has been placed in pre-trial detention. According to SPAK, Beqiri is suspected of having benefited financially from the contested procurement procedures.

In recent days, investigators have questioned around 25 AKSHI officials, primarily members of the Bid Evaluation Committee and the Complaints Review Committee.

The opposition Democratic Party (PD) has previously denounced a procurement procedure carried out by AKSHI. According to PD, the tender concerned the Improvement of the National Civil Status Register System, with a limit fund of €3.8 million, and was initially cancelled on the grounds that no suitable bids had been submitted. PD claims that in October 2024, Soft & Solution, owned by Ermal Beqiri, was declared the winner with a bid of €3.1 million, while two other companies were disqualified.