Ardian

Greece has shortlisted nine investors in a tender for a minority stake in Athens International Airport (AIA), the country's biggest, its privatisation agency said on Friday.

The sale is crucial for Greece which emerged from international bailouts in 2018 and is aiming for privatisation receipts of 2.4 billion euros ($2.7 billion) this year.

Greek state privatization fund HRADF or TAIPED) on Tuesday announced that 10 investment schemes have expressed their interest for a 30 percent stake in Athens International Airport (AIA), owned by the fund.

Prosecutors in Albania on Tuesday said they had charged former central bank governor Fullani with dereliction of duty over the theft of some 713 million lek (five million euro) and over the purchase by the bank of a state-owned property in 2010.

Fullani, 60, was arrested on September 2014 but released pending further investigations few weeks later.

A court in Albania has jailed Ardian Bitraj, a former supervisor of cash deposits at the Bank of Albania, for 20 years for the theft of 713 million leks.

He pleaded guilty and said he had lost the proceedings in gambling. Mimoza Bruzia, another bank employee, got 10 years as a collaborator in the crime.

The Tirana First Instance Court handed down the jail terms on Thursday following a speedy trial.

The ten employees received relatively light sentences following a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to the charges.

One ex-bank employee, Bashkim Xhilaga, received a suspended sentence, based on his health condition.  

"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.

Lawmakers in Tirana have dismissed Bank of Albania governor Ardian Fullani, who was arrested earlier this week over a sum missing from the central bank's reserve.

The move was backed by an overwhelming majority of 72-6, after the bank's executive board pointed he had posed "a serious threat" to the institution's interests, BGNES wire service has reported.

"We want to give the Bank of Albania a governor from the financial or banking system, who would be praised internationally as a professional, moral and uncontestable choice," Prime Minister Edi Rama told a press conference on Monday.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Albania Ardian Fullani won formal support from board members after requests put forward by a board member that he be fired for the theft from bank vaults discovered on 21 July.

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.