TIRANA, July 24 – The justice reform’s Independent Qualification Commission reconfirmed to duty the Head of the High Court Xhezair Zaganjori on Tuesday, after conducting a close investigation on the wealth declared by him under the reevaluation process.
Although the wealth declaration inspectorate did not find any irregularities on Zaganjori’s wealth statements, the IQC spoke of a number of violations found after closer investigation.
According to the report read during the initial hearing, Zaganjori had made inaccurate, insufficient and fictitious statements, while also lacking the financial sources statements for an apartment owned by him in the centre of Tirana, an office, a basement and a shop.
All these properties were included in one single building which, according to Zaganjori, was not purchased but built on land inherited by his wife’s family.
However, the IQC also raised allegations that he had not paid his state obligations from collected rents and that there were discrepancies in the cost he’d declared for his children’s education, which the IQC says was higher.
Zaganjori, who, in addition to monthly salaries and rent, had also declared high financial earnings from working at an institute in Germany, said he’d offered the IQC 40 pages worth of explanations for all questions raised during the process, and asked to be re-confirmed to duty.
Ultimately, the IQC announced Zaganjori’s cleanliness of figure in all three pillars of the justice reform and confirmed him as one of the few ‘correct’ judges so far.
For many, Zaganjori, with over 40 years of experience in the justice field, is known as a supporter of the justice reform and an expert in the field.
In two separate hearings, the IQC ousted on Tuesday Tirana prosecutor Arben Nela and Tirana Appeals Court judge Ervin Metalla.
Both were ousted due to problems in the declarations of their wealth.
Nela spoke about double standards in the way the IQC judges and decides whether justice figures will be ousted or reconfirmed to duty and said he might appeal the IQC’s decision.
Meanwhile, the parliament also approved on Monday an Euralius proposal not to allow judges and prosecutors ousted under the justice reform’s vetting process be lawyers for some time. The measure was included as an amendment to the Law on Advocacy.
