Whistleblower’s protection bill to better fight corruption

29/08/2015 00:00

A bill to protect whistleblowers who denounce corruption in Albania is being considered in order to hardly tackle the phenomenon that has been a major issue for the country. It aims offering those who speak up against corruption the right protection and anonymity status during the trial.

The bill also proposes that if the whistleblower decides at any time to reveal his name to the public, or the scam he discovered, authorities would not be obliged any more to offer him protection. But, while the Attorney General is the institution named to offer the protection, Euralius mission in Albania has contested the proposal, and recommended deleting it from the bill, since Albania’s law already have a clear division of responsibilities in such cases. They also recommended putting a time limit for the whistleblower to denounce any corruption scheme to the authorities.

A prosecution special unit would be trained to receive the complaints and make sure facts and whistleblower identity do not go public against his wish. If those are matters of the civil code, The High Inspectorate deals with them, otherwise, if there are matters of the penal code, they are directly reported to the Prosecution.

The bill also suggests that the accused has the obligation to prove allegations against him are false, while gives special protection to the whistleblower in cases of revenge dismissal, when he can earn up to 300 000 lekë in compensations.

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