ANNUAL REPORT 2009
 VISION
The High Inspectorate of Declaration and Audit of Assets, as the Central
Authority Responsible for implementation of two very important laws in the
fight against corruption, the law "On the declaration and audit of assets, financial
liabilities of the elected officials and certain public officials" and the law " On the
prevention of conflict of interest in the exercise of public functions”, in 2009
applied the institutional strategy, referring to the draft resolution of the
Commission on Legal Affairs, Public Administration and Human Rights for
2009, as well as the European Commission's recommendations, presented in the
Progress Report 2008 for Albania.
In compliance with these two very important documents, the High Inspectorate
is maximally committed to strengthen investigative capacities, increase
controlling mechanisms for assets accumulated in a precarious manner, provide
assistance to officials, who are subject to two laws administered by our
institution, as well as prevent and avoid the conflict of interest amongst the
public administration.
In assessing the inter-institutional cooperation, as one of the key factors in the
fight against corruption, the High Inspectorate has contributed to the growth and
strengthening of contacts with other counterpart agencies. This vision of the
High Inspectorate is expressed through the implementation of a great number of
training workshops with various groups of public administration, the
Responsible Authorities of the institutions, as well as through bylaws that are at
the service of the law entities and the public.
 METHODOLOGY
The High Inspectorate of Declaration and Audit of Assets, in fulfilling the
institutional strategy for fight without compromise against corruption in the
public administration, reinforced the mechanisms of the identification,
prevention and avoidance of conflict of interest and the detection of assets
established unfairly by officials through the modification of the private interest
declaration form.
Modifying the private interest declaration form
One of the innovations of the new document is the specification of the obligation
to declare private interests and the source of their establishment, by the adult
children, left out of the family certificate, of the entities who are subject to the
Law No. 9049, dated 10/04/2003 "On declaration and audit of assets, financial
liabilities of the elected officials and certain public officials" and the Law No.
9367, dated 07/04/2005 " On the prevention of conflict of interest in the exercise of
public functions”. The obligation was initially applied in 2009. Through this
mechanism, the High Inspectorate aims to avoid the registration on behalf of
children excluded from the family certificate of the assets acquired in a
precarious manner by the certain official, as well as to eliminate the unfair
acquisition by this category related to the certain official as a result of public
position of that entity. In addition, a given blank space in the Private Interests
Declaration Form is designed for personal particulars of people related to the
official (spouse, adult children, and official’s parents and his/her spouse’s
parents) to whom the law provides particular restrictions like to the very officials
who are subject to declaration. Through the creation of a database, the High
Inspectorate already retains more complete information on people related to the
official, thus further reinforcing the mechanisms of administrative and thorough
investigation for identifying and avoiding the conflict of interest which are
persistent.
Declaration of Conflict of Interest for Economic Operator
In the framework of cooperation between HIDAA and the Public Procurement
Agency, pursuant to Article 21.1 of Law No. 9367, dated 04/07/2005 "Prohibition to
conclude contracts”, the Declaration on Conflict of Interest for Economic Operator
was drawn up which, since February 2009, became an integral part of the
standard documents of the public procurement. In the format of the Statement
there are detailed restrictions on private interests of certain categories of officials,
who are deprived, because of their public function, from benefiting directly or
indirectly from public funds. Upon filling in this Declaration, the representative
of the economic operator declares under his/her responsibility that no official, as
defined in Chapter III, Section II of the Law No.9367, dated 07.04.2009, has not
private interests directly or indirectly with the legal entity he/she represents. The
application of the declaration of conflict of interest for economic operators
according to standard documents is an important instrument for preventing
conflict of interest in public procurements.
In addition, The High Inspectorate is coming to the end of the draft for
cooperation with the Public Procurement Agency (PPA) on data exchange about
economic operators that turn out to be winners in public procurements. Based on
the database of the High Inspectorate about “persons related” with the officials,
whose source is the “Periodic Annual Declaration of the Private Interests”, the High
Inspectorate has been given additional opportunities to identify, prevent and
punish the cases of conflict of interest in public procurements.
On-site expertise
High Inspectorate, pursuant to its legal obligations, has initiated the practice of
on-site investigations to the realties, for which there are data from legitimate
sources about asset concealment or false declaration (Law No.9367, dated
07/04/2005, Article 18 “Administrative investigation”). To this aim, a special team
consisting of Senior Inspectors and Assistant Senior Inspectors in charge of
collecting data, conducting administrative investigations and searches as well as
pursuing the follow up of these cases.
In order to carry out the on-site investigation for realties and verify the
truthfulness of the declarations by the declaring entities, the Inspector-General is
entitled to call for independent, licensed experts of different fields, to make the
reassessment of assets (Article 29 of the Law No.9049, dated 10.04.2003 – “Call for
experts”) in compliance with the provisions of the Code of Administrative
Procedure.
In the administrative investigations conducted during 2009 for cases of asset
concealment or false declaration, the calling of the evaluating experts for realties
of the controlled entities, has contributed to the collection of persuasive
evidences in the view of the results achieved by HIDCA, improving the control
quality and conducting an overall and comprehensive control. Considering that
the application of the “Call for expert” brought positive results, concrete insights,
also in 2010, the application of this legal instrument will be intensified.
Declaration upon request
High Inspectorate, in order to minimize the eventual cases of transferring the
private interests of officials, abusively generated, on behalf of the third parties or
the justification of assets of great value in the form of "gifts", "long-term interestfree loans", etc., for some alleged cases, has initiated the application of the
"declaration upon request”. This legal obligation, envisaged in Article 7 of the Law
No. 9049, dated 10/04/2003 "On declaration and control of assets” consists in the
obligation to declare the assets and sources of their establishment, by people who
are not subject to law but who have linkages of private interest with the officials.
While investigating the source of income of people who have common interests
with the entity, HIDAA becomes able to create a clearer situation on the source
of income of officials themselves and the effective detection of cases of
concealment and false declaration.
1 declaration upon request was applied in 2009.
The lack of sanctions in case of refusal to declare by people related with the
official constitutes a difficulty in the practical application of this important legal
instrument.
In the up-to-now practice there has been identified as an increasingly extended
phenomenon the fact that, in periodic declarations of the legal entities there are
expressed informal incomes, through related people such as:
- Informal borrowing and lending;
- Gifts of considerable value, etc.
In order to verify the authenticity of the source of the generation of such
incomes, it is necessary that HIDAA administers the declarations of the related
people themselves. But the absence in the Penal Code of the coercive measure
and sanction in case of non-fulfilment of the obligation to declare by the related
people, creates conditions to the entities themselves to use them as a source, as
well as opportunities to the latter for non-fulfilment of obligation, which
hampers the further extension of investigations by HIDAA. The provision 257/a
of the Penal Code, "Refusal to declare, non-declaration, concealment, or false
declaration of assets by elected officials and public officials” does not give any solution
to the case where facing a refusal by the person related to the declaring entity,
because the particular entity is subject to the criminal offence “Refusal to declare,
non-declaration”. For this reason, HIDAA has proposed the amendment in
article 257/a of the Penal Code by adding the people related to the official as
subjects to the criminal offence "Refusal to declare, non-declaration”. The provision
in the relevant article (257/a) of punitive measures for people as well related to
the official, who bear the obligation to declare according to the law, according to
us, will significantly affect the effectiveness of the work of the High Inspectorate,
in administrative verification and investigation of periodic declarations by
officials in order to eliminate the eventualities of evading the real declaration of
private property interests and the resource of their establishment. Our proposal
with object: amendment in article 257/a of the Penal Code is still in process.
New controlling mechanisms
The High Inspectorate, in fulfilling its legal obligation serving the control over
the declaration of private interests, has expanded the number of public and nonpublic financial institutions to which it requires information on the private
interests of the officials, the declaring entities. HIDAA already possesses data not
only from public records of public institutions and second tier banks, but also
from private agencies that centre on money administration and transfer.
The High Inspectorate, on behalf of the administrative investigation into private
interests of officials, already obtains information from the Electricity Distribution
System Operator “OSSH” and the mobile phone companies, on the expenses of
electricity and phone calls made by officials. Furthermore, through contracts
with the OSSH, the High Inspectorate aims to detect the eventual cases of nondeclaration of real estate by officials. The entry-exit TIMS regime will help the
verification for overseas travel expenditures made by public officials after the
establishment of cooperation with the General State Police Directorate.
The use of data recorded in the National Registration Centre “QKR” constitutes
an important innovation in the work of the High Inspectorate. Through details of
the "natural persons", or the shareholders of the private "legal persons" registered
in the private “QKR”, the High Inspectorate is able to identify and prevent cases
of persistent conflict of interest, which is related to incompatibility between the
official function and his/her private interests or interests of the "related persons".
Difficulties due to informality
HIDAA has found out during controls exercised for the verification of
information enshrined in the declarations of private interests by the declaring
entities, that the problems with the informality in recording the assets, notably
the real estate, create obstacles to the effectiveness of investigations undertaken.
Therefore, HIDAA in many cases has continued, in view of administrative
investigation it undertakes on the accuracy and truthfulness of data in the
declarations of private interest of officials, with the application of alternative
mechanisms. In this framework, it’s worth mentioning the results achieved by
virtue of the cooperation with ALUIZNI, where there are self-declarations for
legalisation of informal constructions, where HIDAA has obtained information
about undeclared assets belonging to a number of high officials.
The law obliges the declaring entities to declare their own real estate and the real
rights on them, regardless of whether they are registered in the public records or
not. Through the last controls and verifications conducted on the basis of data
provided by ALUIZNI, it has been found out that, in some cases, the assets
declared for legalisation to that Agency by the controlled entities are neither
covered nor justified with the income declared by them. For the current year, the
cooperation with ALUIZNI will continue for the verification of objects under the
legalisation process.
Training of public administration
Following the institutional strategy, and in compliance with the Albanian
Parliament’s recommendations for the further raise of the accountability of
officials and Responsible Authorities as regards the implementation of the law
on prevention of conflict of interest, the High Inspectorate intensified the training
activities during 2009. Upon the initiative of HIDAA, in cooperation with the
Training Institute of Public Administration “ITAP” and with the support of
international partners, USAID, OSCE, around one thousand officials from central
and local levels were trained for the correct application of legal requirements to
prevent conflict between public office and private interests.
Only during the October-December 2009 period, the High Inspectorate, in
cooperation with ITAP and with the support of the OSCE Presence in Albania,
organised a series of training workshops with officials from central and local
institutions, where around 540 officials of different levels from ministries and
their subordinate institutions (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy; Ministry
of Finance; Ministry of Interior; Ministry of Public Affairs, Transport and
Telecommunication; Ministry of Environment) were trained. In the period
September-November 2009, there were organised training workshops with
officials from municipal administrations and municipal councils in Tirana,
Elbasan, Fier, Vlorë, Pogradec, Durrës, where around 330 officials in total were
trained. In November, in cooperation with ITAP and with the support of USAID,
trainings with 60 Responsible Authorities from ministries and other central
institutions were organised. Moreover, during February-March 2009, HIDAA
developed training meetings with officials from General Directorate of Customs;
General Directorate of Taxation; Courts and Prosecution Offices in 9 districts of
the country with a total number of around 500 attendees on how to fill in the
periodic/annual declaration of private interests.
At the same time, technical assistance has been provided to each declaring entity
in filling in the official document, which has visited HIDAA. The latter has
provided technical-legal assistance to around 120 Responsible Authorities, on
various issues, amongst which the main ones regard assistance on how to fill in
the Private Interest Declaration Form, for cases of alleged conflict of interest, but
also on other issues regarding the respect of legal terms and on defining the
officials who are subject to declaration of private interests as well as on
identification, registration, training and resolution of conflict of interest in their
respective institutions.
In fulfilling the HIDAA’s obligations, for better awareness-raising and
recognition of restrictions and prohibitions provided for in the law by the
officials of public administration, two manuals have been drawn up which give
assistance to institutions, officials in order to address and resolve the cases of
conflict of interest and serve to unify HIDAA’s practice as well:
1. Explanatory Manual on the Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Public
Procurements;
2. Manual on the prevention of conflicts of interest in local government
3. (In process of finalisation) Manual on administrative investigation.

RESULTS OF INVESTIGATION AGAINST CORRUPTION
DATA ON DECLARATION AND AUDIT OF PRIVATE INTERESTS
During the January – December 2009 period, as a result of the process conclusion
for submission of declarations of private interests, the High Inspectorate
administered a total of 4964 declarations, of which:
- 3875 Periodic/Annual Declarations;
- 680 Declarations before Assuming Office;
- 409 Declarations after Leaving Office.
The preliminary processing (Article 24 - Law No. 9049) is one of the early stages
of the control exercised on all declarations of private interests. From the
preliminary audit exercised, around 1042 declarations were found with
problems such as: material errors, wrong filling, or unfilled blanks. In
observance of legal obligations, HIDAA called the declaring entities, who are
obliged to correct these errors within 15 days.
Arithmetic and Logic Control
Arithmetic and logic control is carried out for every declaration to HIDAA
submitted by declaring entities in order to verify the accuracy of evaluation of
the declared assets, the accuracy of the declared financial resources and the
adequacy of coverage of assets from the declared sources and the existence of
conflict of interest. From the private interest declarations submitted in 2009
(Periodic/Annual 2008 and Before Assuming the Office 2009), 3811 declarations
were subject to arithmetic and logic control until 31/12/2009, of which 3688 ones
have passed through the control. Therefore, the control has been completed for
96.7 % of the total number of declarations.
Full control
The full control process, as one of the important processes of the High
Inspectorate’s activity, is conducted under implementation of Articles 17 and 18
of the Law no. 9367, dated 07/04/2005 "On Prevention of Conflict of Interest in
Exercise of Public Functions" (PCI), where there are clearly defined the legal
causes on whose basis the entities pass through the full control.
During 2009, 355 declaring entities passed through the full control, of which:
• 30 declaring entities because of the function (Article 17/2 of the Law on PCI)
• 165 declaring entities chosen by lot (Article 17/3 of the law on PCI)
• 107 declaring entities for problems found out during arithmetic-logic control
(Article 17/4 of the law on PCI)
• 52 declaring entities due to the data from legitimate sources, mass-media,
public, etc. (Article 17/5 of the law on PCI)
• 1 case as a "person related" with the official as declaring entity
Measures undertaken by HIDAA to strengthen the investigative capacities and
legal instruments, proceeding in particular cases with an administrative
investigation and mobilising special structures, have produced positive results in
identifying the cases of concealment of assets and false declaration.
At the conclusion of the administrative investigation HIDAA has filed charges to
the prosecution to start penal proceedings against 16 officials of various
categories, for the criminal offence referred to in Article 257/a of the Criminal
Code The Refusal to declare, non-declaration, concealment, or false declaration of assets
by elected officials and public officials” pursuant to article 281 of the Criminal
Procedure Code (Appendix No.1):
• 6 officials accused of criminal offence provided for in the first paragraph of
Article 257/a
• 10 officials accused of criminal offence provided for in the second
paragraph of Article 257/a of the Penal Code
Assets gained from the fiscal evasion
In the framework of the agreement on cooperation between HIDAA and the
General Directorate of Taxation, and under the implementation of Article 32 of
the Law No. 9049, dated 10/04/2003, the coordination of work and information
exchange have intensified for cases where the assets gained by different officials
resulted from concealment of fiscal obligations, as a consequence of which,
following the investigation conducted by HIDAA, some officials have been fined
by the taxation bodies, in considerable amounts.
Administrative measures in cases of delay in declaring the private interests
The High Inspectorate has applied the administrative measure "fine" for nondeclaring periodically within the set deadline and without reasonable causes
against the official or the person related to the official, who bears the obligation
to declare, against 37 officials. The administrative measure "fine" was imposed
also for non-submission of the declaration of private interests “after leaving the
office” where some officials of senior functions such as former members of
Parliament, former directors, etc. were subject to this administrative measure. In
2009, however, thanks to the awareness-raising work of HIDAA as well as the
provision of legal and technical assistance, awareness-raising is noticed amongst
the declaring entities for the observance of the legal terms.
INFORMATION ABOUT CONTROLLING, IDENTIFYING,
PREVENTING AND RESOLVING THE CASES OF CONFLICT OF
INTEREST
High Inspectorate, in the capacity of the Central Authority Responsible for law
enforcement to prevent conflict of interest, has improved and unified the practice
for controlling conflict of interest by increasing the effectiveness in detecting,
handling and resolving the situations with conflict of interest situations in the
ranks of public administration.
(a) Direct control on the declaration of private interests of the entities who bear
the obligation to declare for the existence of the conflict of interest;
According to the legal definitions, where, at the end of the arithmetic& logic
control process, appear data establishing reasonable suspicion on existence of a
state of conflict of interest, the Inspector General according to the circumstances
and the need authorises working groups for the initiation of an administrative
investigation in order to address and resolve them.
During 2009, after verifying the persistent conflict in the phase of arithmetic and
logic control, 148 cases passed through further proceedings, of which 55 cases
have been completed. At this stage, around 64 cases are under addressing and
resolving process.
(b) Thorough verification and administrative investigation of the conflict of
interest
HIDAA has also initiated the administrative investigation for several alleged
cases of conflict of interest and, in conclusion, appropriate sanctions "fine" have
been imposed against 8 senior officials because they have not resolved in due
time and manner the conflict between public function and their private interests.
Imposition of respective sanctions for identified cases of conflict of interest is part
of the High Inspectorate’s strategy. Since 2005, when the law “On the prevention
of conflict of interest…” came into force until the end of 2008, HIDAA has put
emphasis on training of officials to understand the legal requirements. In early
2009 and ongoing, the High Inspectorate applies, along with the training, the
imposition of administrative measures as defined in the law.
Moreover, during the 25 February-31 March 2009 period, HIDAA exercised
inspections to the Authorities Responsible for the prevention of conflict of
interest, on the fulfilment of duties and responsibilities defined by law, to 86
institutions of the public administration. During the inspections improvements
were noticed as regards relations with HIDAA, but problems are still found in
managing the process of declaring the private interests, particularly it is noticed
the need for frequent trainings regarding the law on the prevention of conflicts of
interest and the concrete role of these structures in its observance.
(c) Verification, investigation and detection of cases of conflict of interest in
cooperation with the state institution and the general public.
Following HIDAA inspections to public institutions and cooperation with
responsible authorities of institutions and public administration, there are
identified, addressed and prevented 121 cases, after information obtained from
the Responsible Authorities of the public institutions; after the information
obtained via different ways of communication with the High Inspectorate (mail,
e-mail, phone calls, etc.), and the mass-media:
 In 19 cases, the appointment to a different office of officials who had
private interests which ran counter to the public function has been
avoided. Information has reached the High Inspectorate through the
cooperation and direct communication with the Responsible
Authorities.
 17 cases of conflict of interest were presented by various institutions of
public administration, addressed and confirmed in the High
Inspectorate
 36 cases were identified by the Responsible Authorities of central
institutions of the public administration
 48 cases were identified by the Responsible Authorities of the
administration of local governance (municipalities, communes, region)
 1 case of conflict of interest imparted via mass-media, which was
followed by a full administrative investigation.
Remedy of consequences from acts undertaken in the circumstances of conflict of
interest
Along with the controlling and sanctioning role the HIDAA exercises on public
administration officials, with regard to the correct implementation of law on
prevention of conflict, HIDAA is charged with the task to guarantee the right
and fair decision-makings by administration and ensuring the best interest of the
public.
In this context, the High Inspectorate has come to find out that legal instruments
should be activated in order to affect the remedy of legal consequences of acts
undertaken in circumstances of conflict of interest in cases where the responsible
institutions do not provide solutions. This phenomenon, noticed in most cases,
makes imperative the need that not only the public, but also the stakeholders
affected by an act undertaken in circumstances of the conflict of interest, should
be more active in denouncing the concrete cases and require the intervention of
HIDAA, as the Central Authority responsible for law enforcement to prevent
conflict of interest. HIDAA, in evaluating all cases and denouncements
submitted by interested parties or civil society, has undertaken the procedures
for initiation of administrative investigation.
In order to increase the effectiveness of the controls exercised for cases of conflict
of interest and the remedy of legal consequences of acts undertaken in
circumstances of conflict of interest, HIDAA must be entitled as a party, to
initiate a judicial process, with the aim to finalize the administrative proceeding
initiated upon its initiative or upon request by concerned parties, helping to
remedy the legal consequences of an act undertaken/issued in circumstances of
the conflict of interest.
The Law on prevention of conflict of interest provides in its Section 40/6/a the
obligation of public institutions, that, when their act becomes invalid because of
the conflict of interest, they should undertake procedures of disciplinary
punishment of officials who acted in bad faith; the transfer of the burden of
compensation for the caused damage to the official in question, asking the court,
as the case be, to award the compensation to the institution for the moral damage
caused by illegal acts of the official in question; and filing of a lawsuit when it is
deemed to be dealing with a criminal offence. In cases where the institution itself
does not undertake the initiative, the action is undertaken by HIDAA in
cooperation with the Advocacy of the State (Article 40/6/c). In this context,
HIDAA signed in March 2009 the cooperation agreement with the Advocacy of
the State, in order to make concrete and coordinate the practical application of
this legal obligation.

DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL CONSOLIDATION
INTERNAL COOPERATION AGAINST CORRUPTION
Problems with the Prosecution Body
One of the main recommendations of the Albanian Parliament on the activities of
the High Inspectorate during 2009 was to strengthen the cooperation with other
institutions, putting emphasis on relations with the Prosecution body, with the
aim to prevent the corruption and economic crime.
Pursuant to this recommendation, but also in respect of the Memorandum of
Cooperation signed between the two institutions in 2008, the High Inspectorate is
highly committed to inter-institutional cooperation in the fight against
corruption. This is evidenced by the growing number of lawsuit cases filed by
HIDAA. But in 2009, the High Inspectorate was facing an unfavourable situation
against the attainment of the scope of its work. HIDAA has observed that the
prosecution body applies different standards for similar cases, even though
formally procedures of the administrative investigation and attestation with
written evidence are the same for all cases. HIDAA finds that for officials, mostly
local ones, the prosecution performs a serious job for sending cases for
judgement. This initiative is not noticed in cases where HIDAA denounces the
senior officials and where it is attested that they do not justify the legitimacy of
the considerable wealth they created. Such a statistic is evidenced by the paper of
the General Prosecution office, the Directorate of Investigation, Control and
Penal Proceedings and Prosecution with ref. no. 611/1 AK, dated 19/02/2010
according to which it appears that out of 15 requests for initiation of criminal
proceedings made by the High Inspectorate:
 11 criminal proceedings have been closed, of which 8 proceedings have
been sent for judgement and 3 have been dismissed
 Among 8 proceedings sent for judgement, 7 persons were convicted as
guilty and the innocence has been given to one person.
The presented information indicates that in the 3 proceedings dismissed by the
Prosecution body there are precisely senior officials who were not able to justify
with lawful sources their wealth reaching several hundred thousand Euros.
- Meanwhile, the High Inspectorate has strengthened the cooperation with
other public structures for detecting the corruptive element. In May 2009 the
High Inspectorate was one of the six central institutions which signed the
Memorandum of Cooperation for the establishment of the Joint Anti-Corruption
Unit, in composition of which there are also the General Prosecution Office, the
Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Finance, State Intelligence Service and the
Supreme State Audit. The inter-institutional coordination and synergy for the
fight against corruption are in the core of this act.
- Furthermore, in the framework of institutional cooperation the High
Inspectorate signed in March 2009 cooperation agreements with four other state
agencies as well; a) with the General Directorate for the Prevention of Money
Laundering; b) with the General Directorate of Taxation; c) with the Advocacy of
State d) with the General State Police Directorate.
- The High Inspectorate appraises the good and correct cooperation
established with all banking institutions, non-bank financial institutions and
bodies which administer public records. Cooperation with these institutions
represents a particular importance in investigative work of HIDAA, especially in
cases of investigation for concealment of obligations or banking financial
transactions performed by the declaring entities or the persons related to them.
- Moreover, it is worth appraising the results achieved thanks to the
cooperation between HIDAA and General Directorate of Taxation for the
detection and punishment of officials who have created assets by way of carrying
out illegal activities.
- On the other hand, in the framework of the cooperation agreement with
the General Directorate for the Prevention of Money Laundering, the synergy
and coordination of work have been intensified for timely exchange of
information that is necessary for every irregularity or reasonable suspicion
observed during controls,
- HIDAA, with the support and funding of international partners,
organized round tables with various institutions (INSTAT, General State Police
Directorate) during the February-April period.
- In the framework of strengthening cooperation with the structures
responsible for fighting corruption and fostering of the investigative capacities,
the administrative investigation staff of the High Inspectorate along with
representatives from the Joint Investigative Unit for Fighting Economic Crime
and Corruption attended a 3-day meeting hosted by USAID and OPDAT on
administrative investigation and inquiry.
- The High Inspectorate has participated in several round tables organised
by OPDAT on money laundering and financial investigation, in training
activities organised by the General Directorate for the Prevention of Money
Laundering in the frame of the Twinning Project with the Federal Criminal
Police Office of Germany under the topic "For the fight against money
laundering and financial crimes”; to the workshop with the topic “Personal data
protection for the police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters” organised
on the occasion of the establishment of the Office of the Commissioner for
Personal Data Protection, etc.
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
During 2009, HIDAA has been very active in the field of international
cooperation. For the reporting year, the High Inspectorate had the role of the
expert institution, which is made evident by the visits of high level
representatives of counterpart institutions of Montenegro, Kosovo, Ukraine and
Kyrgyzstan. At the same time, representatives from the High Inspectorate signed
the Memorandum on Cooperation with the counterpart office of Slovenia in May
2009 as well as intensified the relations with the agencies of Montenegro and
Kosovo.

TRANSPARENCY
In the framework of the institutional strategy and recommendations by the
Albanian Parliament to strengthen cooperation and support for the civil society
and media on corruption cases, the High Inspectorate is highly committed to
carry out the transparency.
1. For the first time an institution, whose activity is focused on
investigation, performed an activity of a high transparency level. In April 2009,
with the support of our partners (USAID) the “HIDAA with open doors” was
organised in the premises of HIDAA, in which representatives from media and
civil society were closely informed of the functioning manner of the institution.
The high participation in that event testified the appraisal for it. One of the most
important elements of the activity was the transparent lot drawing for the
selection of 4% of officials to pass through the full control, a legal obligation
determined in article 17, points 3, 4 of the Law “On Prevention of the Conflict of
Interest.” The electronic selection of the names of officials by drawing lots was
conducted by the public who attended the event demonstrating maximum
transparency with the general public.
2. In the framework of cooperation with media and civil society, with the
support from United State Agency for International Development (USAID),
HIDAA organised three regional meetings in Vlora, Shkodra and Korça. The
topic broadly dealt with was: “Media, Civil Society and HIDAA – cooperate to
detect the cases of conflict of interest and declaration of assets”. Such activities
serve to further consolidate relations between the institution and the
stakeholders of the civil society.
3. On December 9, 2009, on the occasion of the International Day Against
Corruption, in cooperation with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE), HIDAA organised a meeting with representatives from main
institutions of investigation and NGOs with the aim to strengthen the
cooperation between public institutions and civil society for the creation of
strategies on improving the public image of the state administration and
achieving success in the fight against corruption.
4. Moreover, following the public transparency, HIDAA has made
publicly available the free line (0800 9999) and the e-mail address:
(unedenoncoj@hidaa.gov.al), in order to denounce the corruptive affairs, for
concealed assets and detection of cases of conflict of interest amongst the public
administration.
5. In the January-December 2009 period, the High Inspectorate made
available to the media, the civil society and other interested people around 1000
copies of the declarations of private interests by officials at various levels and
supported two Albanian NGOs in drafting their own reports on the declaration
of assets by officials of different levels.
7. The High Inspectorate has been active in the written and visual media
with frequent announcements with regard to not only its institutional activity
but also the institutional concerns.
 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
As regards the budgetary & financial performance, HIDAA has acted pursuant
to the state budget for 2009, relying on the most necessary institutional demands
and needs as well as in observance of the legal obligations provided for in the
institutional legal framework.
Based on the Law Nr. 10025, dated 27/11/2008 "On the State Budget for 2009" and
the Instruction No. 2, dated 12/01/2009 "On the State Budget for 2009, the High
Inspectorate, has been awarded a planned fund of 93 million 101 thousand and
520 lek ALL. Out of the general budgetary fund for the reported period, namely
the year 2009, the High Inspectorate made use of a budgetary value of 88,195,506
lek ALL as per specific items provided for in the budget, so acting in compliance
with the legal requirements.
In carrying out the operational costs, the High Inspectorate has been relying on a
more rational distribution of demands which relate to:
- Verification and administrative investigation of the private interests of the
officials in the country and abroad;
- Vocational training and qualification of the High Inspectorate’s staff
themselves;
- Vocational training and qualification of the Responsible Authorities and the
officials of various institutions through organisation of trainings and workshops;
- Upgrading the transparency level and standards as one of the most important
elements in identifying and preventing the conflict of interest;
- Allocation of expenditures for various publications;
- Realisation of compulsory expenditures for: taxes and duties, electricity, water,
toll-free mailing and telephone services for the public, thus serving a normal
institutional activity;
- Enhancing improvement in registration, storage and information technology.
The Realisation of operational costs for the reporting period is to the extent of
99.8% of the fund allocated for our institution. The saving achieved in
operational costs, despite the impacts caused by the increasing prices for goods
and services in 2009, has come as a result of savings in the procurement
processes and the rational use according to the specific needs of the institution.
Thank you!