TIRANA – The Special Prosecution Against Corruption and Organised Crime (SPAK) placed Vlora Hyseni, head of Albania’s State Intelligence Service (SHISH) under house arrest on Tuesday. Hyseni is suspected of aiding a criminal suspect and of leaking secret information in breach of her official duties. Media reported that Hyseni is not currently in Albania.
According to Balkan Insight, SPAK has also questioned the former Chief of Police, Ilir Proda. SPAK added that a sector head of the Forensic Police and a businessman had been arrested in relation to the same case.
The investigation centres on businessman Ergys Agasi, who was arrested in August and is suspected of leading a structured criminal group involved in manipulating public tenders at Albania’s National Agency for Information Society (AKSHI), which manages the country’s digital public services and IT infrastructures.
SPAK has not publicly specified what information Hyseni allegedly disclosed or whom she is suspected of assisting. The house arrest order had not initially been enforced, as Hyseni was outside Albania at the time the measures were announced. According to Albanian media, she is in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Hyeni has headed the SHISH, the most important institution handling national security, since 2023, and her alleged involvement with the AKSHI corruption scandal potentially marks the most serious crisis over national security in the country’s history.
Hyseni was appointed head of SHISH after serving as Prime Minister’s Edi Rama national security adviser for about two years. She had earlier been deputy director of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency (KIA) but was dismissed from that post in June 2021 by Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani and Prime Minister Albin Kurti.
Her appointment as head of SHISH in 2023 was controversial because of her Kosovo citizenship and the unclear reason for her dismissal from Kosovo’s top security institution.
Meanwhile, former police chief Proda was seen at SPAK offices on Tuesday where, according to the media, he was questioned in relation to the AKSHI scandal and his house was searched.
AKSHI coordinates the development of state information systems and digitalisation procedures and administers the state public services portal, e-Albania.
The agency has managed a massive budget; some 19 of its procedures investigated by SPAK alone had an estimated total value of 5.9 billion lek, or about 59 million euros.
The SPAK investigation alleges that AKSHI’s director, Mirlinda Karcanaj, and her deputy, Hava Delibashi, placed many of these funds in the hands of a group linked to organised crime, pre-selected tender winners and ensured the diversion of tens of millions of euros into the accounts of IT businessman Ermal Beqiraj and Ergys Agasi.
Agasi is accused of forming a criminal group with Beqiraj to rig and extort tenders from the AKSHI, even using violence and hostage-taking.
Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama announced the on X the immediate removal of Hyseni.
The prime minister, who is currently in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly, characterized Hyseni’s legal battles as “an individual matter before the prosecution and the court”.
“Everyone is innocent until a final court ruling is issued, but no one is above the law,” Rama wrote.
He defended his administration against political fallout, asserting that judicial actions should not be weaponized by opponents into political indictments.
“The governing majority does not delve into the merits of any justice matter and does not act as anyone’s advocate,” Rama added.
The Prime Minister also targeted political adversaries and local media coverage, lamenting that legal enforcement actions involving public figures are frequently exploited as “motivation to butcher human character in the political and media arena,” forcing a rush to public judgment before judicial conclusions are reached.
Rama stated that upon his return to the Albanian capital of Tirana, he will consult with the country’s president to select a new director for the intelligence agency.
