It hasn’t been a good few days for Igli Tare. After his sacking by AC Milan last Monday, he is now being investigated by prosecutors in Albania.
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According to Calcio e Finanza, possible legal trouble looms for Tare. The former Milan sporting director has been placed under investigation in Albania, his home country, as part of an investigation conducted by the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Organised Crime and Corruption, SPAK.
According to sources in the Albanian prosecutor’s office, Tare is suspected of alleged money laundering in the investigation involving former Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku, who was initially accused of violating tender procedures.
Today, the prosecutor’s office announced that it has also added the former director’s name to the list of suspects, also charging him with corruption. The alleged connection between Tare and Balluku concerns a villa on the Ionian coast of Albania, located within a tourist complex.
As per investigators’ reconstruction, the home was offered to Balluku as a bribe for a contract awarded to a construction company, when the politician was a manager at Albcontrol, the Albanian air traffic control company.
To cover up the operation, the villa was apparently registered in the name of Tare. According to the prosecutor’s office, the former executive allegedly entered into ‘a fictitious rental agreement with Balluku’s former chief of staff’. Investigators maintain that ‘de facto’ the residence is owned by Balluku, who allegedly used it with his family over the years.
Tare was questioned at the prosecutor’s office, which he left after approximately six hours without making any statements to the journalists present. The investigation is currently ongoing, and the charges will need to be verified in the subsequent stages of the proceedings.