The Appeal Chamber held on 07.04.2025, at 10:00, the public hearing of case (JR) 24/2024, dated 01.07.2024, pertaining to the appeal of the Public Commissioner against decision no. 744, dated 19.03.2024 of the Independent Qualification Commission, related to the assessee Artan Hajredinaj.

The presiding judge announced that Article 179/b, paragraph 8 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania and Article 199 of the Civil Procedure Code have set forth the transfer of powers from the Public Commissioner to the Head of the Special Prosecution Office, who has delegated his representation in this proceedings to the prosecutor of the Special Prosecution Office, Mr. Klodian Braho, present at the hearing.

During the submission of the appeal grounds related to the asset and proficiency assessment criteria, the representative of the Special Prosecution Office stated that he shares a different position from the Independent Qualification Commission that confirmed in office the assessee Artan Hajredinaj. Referring to the seven public complaints, Mr. Braho requested the Chamber to take into consideration the circumstances described therein and the shortcomings identified in the addressing of the cases in the proficiency assessment of assessee. The representative of the Special Prosecution Office, while standing by the appeal grounds, requested the amendment of decision no. 744, dated 19.03.2024 of the Independent Qualification Commission and the dismissal from office of the assessee.

During the submission of the objections, the legal representative of the assessee held that there is a contradictory position regarding the appeal: the Head of the Special Prosecution Office has raised grounds for all three criteria, but refers only to two of them, the asset and the proficiency assessment. With regard to the asset assessment criterion, the legal representative maintained that the reference should be the Vetting declaration and not the periodic ones, adding as well that the appeal lacks a negative balance for each asset. The legal representative provided detailed explanations for each appeal ground and in support of her claims, lodged several documents, which she requested the trial panel to accept them as evidence.

The presiding judge announced that on March 25, 2025, the Chamber has received a new complaint, which had been forwarded to the parties. In this regard, the representative of the Special Prosecution Office stated that it regards a case still under consideration by the assessee and therefore has no impact on his vetting process. In this context, the assessee submitted his position and several accompanying documents in writing, requesting that they be admitted as evidence.

With regard to the documents, Mr. Klodian Braho stated that from a formal point of view, there is no legal impediment to their administration, whereas with respect to the content, he shall make a statement with their regard during the final conclusions of the case.

After being consulted, the trial panel decided to accept as evidence all the documents filed by the assessee, except for one document already part of the case file forwarded by the Independent Qualification Commission. These documents will also be forwarded to the representative of the Special Prosecution Office.

The trial panel, taking into account the position of Mr. Braho, decided not to investigate the complaint dated March 25, 2025, as it fails to meet the legal criteria for further investigation. Also, for this reason, it was decided not to investigate further a complaint forwarded by a complainant with the initials B.S.

Once the parties stated that they had no other procedural requests, the trial panel decided to close the judicial investigation and invited the parties to submit their final conclusions. Given that the representative of the Special Prosecution Office requested a reasonable time for their preparation, it was decided to postpone the hearing to 28.04.2025, at 14:00.

The public hearing shall take place at the premises of the Appeal Chamber, at Boulevard “Dëshmorët e Kombit”, no. 3, Tirana.