The Prosecutor's Office at the Court of First Instance of General Jurisdiction, Berat requested the security measures 'House arrest' and 'Obligation to report to the judicial police', for 11 persons, under investigation for the criminal offense 'Practice of financial activities without a license'. From the investigations conducted within the framework of criminal proceedings no. 47, it resulted that in the six commercial entities investigated, their administrators and employees exercised foreign exchange activity without the permission of the competent authorities.
The six-month proactive investigations of the Prosecutor's Office at the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction in Berat extended to five municipalities throughout the region and managed to prove the illegal activity of citizens ST, HS, MM, SH, SC, AH, AS, OVZM, ET and KP.
These citizens had registered businesses with the scope of activity "Agent for carrying out financial activities for money transfers in the name and on behalf of a financial entity, not a bank. More specifically, the Unionnet and Western Union services, located in Berat and Kuçovë, were found not to be on the list of licensed currency exchange offices, operating without a license issued by the Bank of Albania. Based on the authorization granted by the prosecution body for allowing the performance of stimulating actions and the performance of secret photographic, film or video recording, 28 exchange operations of monetary values were carried out at the suspected entities, proving that they exercise this activity without a license.
Regarding the above, the Prosecutor's Office at the Court of First Instance of General Jurisdiction, Berat requested the security measures "Obligation to report to the judicial police" and "House arrest", provided for by articles 233, 234 and 237 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. From the controls carried out in function of this proceeding, the following were found and seized: 88 million lekë; 118 thousand euros; 7390 dollars; and 665 pounds.
