Former RTSH head, Thoma Gëllçi, arrested in suspect public procurement case
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- Gëllçi is a well-known media personality in Albania with long and close ties to Albania’s ruling Socialist Party.
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TIRANA, Oct. 9 - Thoma Gëllçi, who until recently served as the top executive of Albania’s public broadcaster, RTSH, has been arrested on charges filed by SPAK, the special anti-corruption and organized crimes prosecutors.
Gëllçi faces charges of "abuse of duty" in the case of a procurement procedure organized in November 2018 for the purchase of equipment for the RTSH Agro channel -- worth about 870,000 dollars.
Three other employees of the public broadcaster -- Julian Tapia, Alban Malaveci and Ervin Muraj -- were arrested on related “violation of equality in tender” charges. They served as members of the Bid Evaluation Committee for the procurement procedure in question.
SPAK did not provide further details on the charges, but all four of the arrested are in custody until they go in front of a judge in the next two days to decide while they will remain in jail while the court case starts.
Gëllçi is a well-known media personality in Albania with long and close ties to Albania’s ruling Socialist Party.
Gëllçi was sacked as general director of RTSH in May, shortly after the public broadcaster’s board decided not to give him a second five-year term. He had presided over the largest expansion of the public broadcaster since its founding with the launch of several regional and speciality television and radio channels as well as a mobile platform.
Gëllçi started his career as a journalist and editor of the official newspaper of the communist regime, Zeri i Popullit, and then headed the newspaper as it became the official media outlet of the Socialist Party after the fall of the regime. He then went on to serve as a spokesman for several Socialist prime ministers before emigrating to the United States in 2005.
He returned to Albania to take on the lead position of the public broadcaster after the Socialists returned to power under Prime Minister Edi Rama.
