Albania President Nominates Central Bank Governor

"In the candidature of Gentian Sejko, who comes from the ranks of the banking system, I valued the managerial experience, his education and moral integrity," President Bujar Nishani said in a statement accompanying the decree on Monday.

An economist by training, Sejko has a nearly two-decade-long career in Albania's banking sector, with various commercial banks.  He currently heads Societe General in the country.

His nomination will have to be vetted by parliament, and the centre-left majority of Prime Minister Edi Rama has yet to come out with an official position on the president's nominee.

The president and the prime minister have often been at odds over judicial nominations and it remains unclear if parliament will approve Sejko's candidature.

The nomination comes after the dismissal of former governor Ardian Fullani, who has been indicted on abuse of power charges, after a record theft was discovered in July in one of the bank's treasury deposits.

Alongside Fullani, 18 other bank employees were arrested over the record five million euro heist, which was made public on July 21.

According to prosecutors, the heist was the work of a single rogue bank employee, Adrian Bitraj, who worked in the bank's cash vault in the village of Linze, near the capital Tirana.

Prosecutors said that Bitraj, a long-term bank employee, admitted that over a period of four years, he stole a large sum of money in banknotes. The other 17 people arrested were charged with dereliction of duty.

The notes were earmarked for destruction alongside new notes that had not yet entered into circulation.