SPAK could move toward a harsher measure against the suspended deputy prime minister, including a request for house arrest or detention.
Tirana Times – December 9, 2025 The suspension from office of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Energy Belinda Balluku has pushed Albania into one of the most sensitive clashes between the judiciary and the executive in recent years, at a time when prosecutors are deepening investigations into several high-value public tenders. Legal experts and individuals familiar with the process say that as SPAK expands its probe into the infrastructure and energy sectors, the possibility of additional charges is not excluded, since the pattern of suspected practices appears to repeat across procurement procedures involving more than 600 million euros in public funds. Investigators are also tracking several million euros in suspicious transfers abroad that may be connected to the case.
The deputy prime minister already faces charges for manipulating the tender for the Llogara Tunnel, a project valued at roughly 150 million euros, in which the reopening of the procedure added at least 50 million euros without any clear explanation of where the additional funds went. Prosecutors argue that equality in the tender was severely violated and that the procedure shows clear signs of corrupt influence and preferential treatment for selected operators. According to investigators working on the file, prosecutors are now examining whether the same procurement logic was applied in other major tenders overseen by the ministry she led.
In response to these developments, the Special Court for Organized Crime and Corruption suspended Balluku from office a measure that many independent jurists have described as balanced and proportionate. They say the court acted to prevent the accused from tampering with evidence, pressuring witnesses or fleeing the country, as former deputy prime minister Arben Ahmetaj did. These concerns are reflected in the reasoning of the court, which also noted the risk that the accused might repeat the same criminal conduct if she remained in office. Independent experts argue that the suspension created an opportunity for the minister to resign voluntarily, or for the prime minister to dismiss her to ensure the normal functioning of the executive. Neither happened. Balluku refused to resign, and Prime Minister Edi Rama chose not to dismiss her.
Legal experts say SPAK could move toward a harsher measure against the suspended deputy prime minister, including a request for house arrest or detention. But any such request would require parliamentary approval because of her immunity.
The government has taken the case to the Constitutional Court, presenting it as a dispute over whether the Special Court has the authority to suspend a sitting minister. However, independent jurists, political analysts and foreign diplomats see the move quite differently. The refusal to appoint an acting minister, combined with public claims that the ministry is now paralyzed, is widely interpreted as a form of pressure on the Constitutional Court, which is expected to issue a ruling in the coming days. Prime Minister Rama’s argument that Albania cannot sign the agreement on direct flights to Canada because Balluku’s signature is missing is considered legally unfounded and detached from institutional reality, according to experts.
A Western diplomat in Tirana, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the situation is alarming. “It is extremely serious that a minister in such circumstances does not resign, and even more serious that the prime minister refuses to dismiss her,” the diplomat said. “In any European democracy, the suspension of a senior official by a special anti-corruption court would immediately trigger political accountability, not an institutional standoff.”
This confrontation unfolds in a broader context in which a large number of ministers, deputy ministers, mayors, agency directors and senior officials have been arrested, convicted or placed under investigation for high-level corruption. These cases include former deputy prime minister Arben Ahmetaj, now a fugitive; formerInterior Minister Tahiri, the health minsiter Beqaj , environment minister Lefter Koka and others convicted in the incinerator affair; and the mayor of Tirana, arrested earlier this year on charges including corruption and money laundering. These developments have deepened concerns over state capture and systemic abuse of public procurement.
Against this backdrop, the Balluku case has become a key test for Albania’s justice reform. SPAK’s expanding investigations aim to determine whether there exists a repeated structure of violations of tender equality that for years is believed to have characterized the infrastructure and energy sectors. Meanwhile, the government’s constitutional challenge and its refusal to ensure the functioning of the ministry raise doubts about whether the executive is prepared to accept judicial intervention when investigations reach the highest levels of power.
The Constitutional Court’s decision is expected to carry consequences well beyond the political fate of a single minister. Upholding the suspension would reaffirm the authority of courts to impose precautionary measures on senior officials, while overturning it could be seen as a setback in the fight against corruption and a dangerous precedent of political pressure on the judiciary.
For now, the Balluku case remains a difficult knot where the determination of the new justice institutions to investigate systemic corruption intersects with the resistance of political structures that feel threatened by such investigations. Whether new charges emerge or not, the case has already exposed the fragility of Albania’s institutional balance and the country’s ongoing struggle to establish accountability beyond rhetoric.
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