BANK OF ALBANIA
STATEMENT BY THE BANK OF ALBANIA

Today, on 29 July 2014, subsequent to the meeting held a week ago, the Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania held a special meeting to discuss the findings of working groups established to thoroughly analysing the serious act of monetary value misappropriation.

After analysing with responsibility and in the framework of transparency and public information, the Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania reached the following conclusions:

A full inventory has been made of all monetary values (banknotes) kept in store at the Bank of Albania. The inventory revealed that the missing monetary value amounts to 713 (seven hundred and thirteen) million Albanian Lek, of which 143 million withdrawn from circulation and destined for destruction.

The working groups established for this purpose have reached the following conclusions:

- All the legal and sublegal acts that regulate and discipline the activity for safekeeping and administering monetary values in cash are drafted in full compliance with the legal framework governing the activity of the Bank of Albania and in accordance with the most advanced international practices and standards implemented by other central banks. The well-defined procedures in such acts guarantee accurate accounting evidence, as well as physical security of monetary values the bank keeps and administers.

- IT infrastructure is adequate and guarantees on-going monitoring of all facilities where cash is processed and stored.

- Periodic inventories and control have been implemented regularly, pursuant to the regulatory framework in force. In spite of this, failure of certain employees to rigorously perform their duties, has created opportunities for misappropriating monetary values. An administrative investigation by the Bank of Albania to determine individual responsibilities is underway; meanwhile, the prosecution office is conducting its investigations to bring all liable persons before the law.

We would like to underline that the cash reserve kept at the Bank of Albania in high security premises is not affected. The combination of a series of procedures and advanced-technology tools help prevent any attempt, either individual or in group, to access and manipulate the monetary reserves.

Monetary values have been misappropriated in the intermediate link of the cash operations desk, where daily cash operations are conducted. In this link, failure of certain employees to rigorously comply with procedures created the opportunities for such abuse.

The Supervisory Council has asked the relevant Departments to take energetic measures to rectify the cases of breach of procedures set out in regulatory acts in force. The Bank of Albania assures the public that its operational activity is functioning normally, pursuant to the obligation for supplying the banking system with the necessary liquidity.