Albanian capital's mayor held on corruption allegations

Erion Veliaj, the mayor of Albania's capital Tirana and an important figure in the country's ruling party, has been arrested on a raft of corruption-related allegations, authorities say.

Special prosecutors handling corruption and organised crime told Albanian media that Veliaj was suspected of several instances of accepting bribes, money laundering and unlawfully concealing income.

Veliaj, 45, has been the mayor of Tirana since 2015.

He is a board member of the ruling Socialist Party and a close associate of Prime Minister Edi Rama, who has held power for more than a decade.

Veliaj has also served as a minister in Rama's cabinet.

Veliaj dismissed the corruption allegations at the end of last year as "fabricated" after the prosecutors questioned him as a witness.

Albania has been a European Union candidate country since 2014 and has been negotiating EU membership since 2022.

The Special Structure against Corruption and Organised Crime, the law enforcement body behind the mayor's arrest, was established in 2019 as part of Albania's ongoing efforts to join the bloc.

with AP