Albanian lawmaker resigns over alleged criminal past

Armando Prenga, lawmaker of Albania's ruling Socialist Party, decided to give up his parliamentary mandate on Monday following debates and charges over his alleged criminal past.

The Albanian opposition and the prosecution have accused him of hiding his criminal past in his decriminalization form.

Under the decriminalization law, all public officials in Albania must declare any conflict of interest or past criminal offenses.

But Albanian opposition representatives say that he didn't declare his criminal past, therefore they asked the central elections committee (CEC) to strip him of his mandate.

But the elections committee said that there was no evidence proving oppositions claims, so it rejected such request.

Later on, the Albanian prosecutor's office asked the CEC to remove his mandate. Prosecution request was scheduled to be discussed on Tuesday.

But Prenga decided to resign one day ahead, saying that he took such decision in the interest of his family.

He rejected opposition and prosecution claims as "political and untrue".

According to Albanian prosecution, Prenga didn't declare a previous court verdict on fake documents as well as his criminal activity in Italy where he was accused of falsifying documents, theft and using false identity. Endit