[REVISION HISTORY]

Albania MP Shehaj suspended after US loan document theft

Updated 2 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-07-28 12:47 UTC → 2026-07-29 03:45 UTC · added ~~removed~~

On 27 July 2026 the Albanian Parliament voted to suspend MP Agron Shehaj for 60 days from all plenary and committee sessions after he forcibly removed a classified draft of a $302 million U.S. military‑equipment loan. The Socialist Party, which lodged the complaint, said the act breached confidentiality rules and urged the Special Prosecution Office to consider criminal charges, including unlawful handling of classified information. Shehaj denied wrongdoing, arguing his aim was to expose a lack of transparency in the loan deal. The ~~earlier~~ incident ~~that triggered the suspension~~ also left a parliamentary adviser injured ~~when he slipped~~ after slipping on stairs while pursuing Shehaj. Prime Minister Edi Rama and Socialist leader Taulant Bala ~~have~~ called for swift legal action, ~~maintaining~~ underscoring the episode’s impact on Albania’s political tension. Further reporting highlighted Shehaj’s background as a businessman who entered politics with the Democratic Party in 2017, later breaking away to form his own platform and investing heavily in media outlets. He founded the Lumo Skëndo Institute, headed by Uran Butkë, which critics say functions more as a vehicle for distributing funds and party‑list payments than as an academic body. Critics also alleged that the secret parliamentary document on the Albania‑U.S. loan was read in the Parliament Library without proper logging and was subsequently kept in Shehaj’s office, indicating a broader disregard for parliamentary procedures.

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