The Nexus of Judiciary Power and Corruption in Albania: Strategies of Defiance and Evasions

The article aims to study the actions of the network of elite members of a society in diverting financial flows. It is about the way the judiciary elite of a postcommunist and transitional society of Albania has practiced corruption. Prior and during the vetting or reevaluation process of the judges and prosecutors for integrity, ethics, and competence launched in 2017, it has uncovered the scale and luxury involved in the corruptive practices of judges and prosecutors. More than half of reevaluated judges and prosecutors have been dismissed due to past corruptive behavior. The vetting process has shown that over the last three decades of the transition history of Albania, a particular corruption scheme has emerged, catering to the needs of the corrupt judges and prosecutors. Based on fieldwork, this article examines the stories of the corruptive practices by judges and prosecutors of Albania. The article examines the complex mix of legal and illegal dynamics that were combined to produce defiance regime for the corruption within the judiciary of Albania. The article aims to conceptualize how this corruption regime was constructed and maintained. It also examines how interventions undertaken in fighting the corruption failed to deal with the defiance phenomenon within the Albanian judiciary.