2026-09-30 07:56:17Biznes SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

The General Directorate of Customs, in the context of increasing the efficiency of cooperation through information exchange and law enforcement, has undertaken a verification process with the Italian customs administration (ADM – Direzione Antifrode e Controlli), as well as with other law enforcement institutions within the country.

This investigative process comes within the framework of the intensification of cooperation with the Italian authorities regarding the exchange of information on suspicious transactions, which after risk analysis have forwarded for verification a high volume of requests for reimbursement of Value Added Tax and transactions carried out through "tax free" schemes (VAT reimbursement) during the period January 2022 - July 2025.

Detailed data analysis revealed a high frequency of transactions, a lack of legitimate sources of income to justify the purchases, and discrepancies in the destination of the goods. The high volume of invoices (on average about 13 per month for each case, with clusters of up to 9–11 invoices within a single day) makes these transactions suspicious for personal use.

Specifically, at the center of this investigation are over 1,000 individual invoices divided into two cases, with a total value of around two million euros (respectively around 988,684 euros for the first case and 1,033,338 euros for the second case).

The suspected scheme (modus operandi) consists of purchasing goods in Italian territory, declaring them for personal use and benefiting from VAT reimbursement through “tax free” systems. Through this mechanism, it is suspected that some of these goods were introduced into the territory of the Republic of Albania as contraband for commercial purposes, without carrying out the mandatory import declaration procedures.

The preliminary materials and findings of these investigations have been referred to the Prosecutor's Office at the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction in Tirana.

The General Directorate of Customs reaffirms its determination to cooperate closely with international counterpart authorities and law enforcement institutions, with the aim of protecting financial interests and combating any form of evasion or illegality.


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