Bank of Albania governor under pressure after theft probe

Bank of Albania governor under pressure after theft probe

The demand comes after the bank announced employees stole millions over a four-year period.

Civil society in Albania is calling for the Bank of Albania governor to resign after it was revealed that bank employees stole more than $7 million over a four-year period.

The bank's commission on money circulation and inventory discovered the theft and informed the country's prosecutor office in late July.

The police have arrested 10 bank employees so far, including a department director, and are conducting an investigation.

The bank promptly replaced the unit heads at the money issuing department and two controllers at the security and protection department. It also announced it has appointed a new director.

But civil society organised protests in front of Bank of Albania offices in Tirana demanding bank governor Ardian Fullani's resignation.

Civil society representatives said the theft has shown the corruption in the bank and has weakened trust in the country's most senior banking office holder. "People are demanding the governor's resignation or his being discharged by parliament. Furthermore, they ask that a parliamentary commission investigate theft and abuse in this institution," Zirkov Disha, protest organiser, told SETimes.

Others said that the theft at the heart of the country's premier financial institution is a crippling demonstration of corruption.

"Fullani established a banking law system in which the consumer could never protect himself against private banks. This has cost Albanian citizens billions and has caused the ruination of their well-being and life," Altin Goxhaj, director of the Consumer Protection Office, an NGO...