Member of Bank of Albania board Arben Malaj to be dismissed 'for undermining Bank's credibility'

Arben Malaj

 The Socialist Party (SP) parliamentary group has urgently collected the signatures on Monday for the dismissal of Arben Malaj as a board member of the Bank of Albania (BoA).

Sources from the SP parliamentary group confirmed to Oculus News the gathering of more than 20signatures for his dismissal. Arben Malaj's recent public standing is considered by the majority as a violation of the ethics of the office he holds.

Over the past few months, Mr. Malaj through numerous comments on social networks has expressed openly his criticism of how the government addresses the economic issues. Apparently, such comments and attitudes are the cause of this clash between the majority and Arben Malaj, former Finance Minister in Fatos Nano's government.

The request submitted to Parliament for the dismissal of Arben Malaj

The Socialists say that with his public attitudes, Mr. Malaj has severely violated the work ethic and has deeply disrupted the interests of the Bank of Albania by expressing attitudes and assessments that are part of political analysis related to political groupings and believed to harm the image of the country.

"In none of the cases the public character of the function exercised as a member of BoA's supervisory council has been taken into account and this nature of conduct has not been and has not served to preserve and promote public confidence in the Bank of Albania", has been stated in the request the SP.

Malaj has been voted with 107 votes in favor, no counter and no abstentions for being part of the governing board of the BoA. Malaj, a former SP deputy and former finance minister, was nominated for a member of the BoA's Supervisory Council by some Socialist Party MPs. He replaced Ermelinda Meksi in this post, which resigned in February 2016.