Albania suspends AI minister pilot amid bribery probe, prosecutors halt test

According to reports relayed by Modern.az from Newsbar, the AI agent, referred to as Diyella, is under investigation on suspicion of receiving 14 BTC (about €1.3 million) to influence procurement outcomes. The Special Prosecution against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK) said the system has been taken offline while investigators review activity on the state services platform e‑Albania.

Case materials reviewed by prosecutors indicate that 10%-15% of contract awards during the pilot may have been routed to unidentified accounts. Internal logs reportedly recorded the transactions as routine operations. Investigators are examining how controls and policy constraints were configured for the model.

Authorities said they will assess whether any human operators facilitated the activity and whether associated funds can be traced and recovered. The government stated it will cooperate with SPAK and will review the pilot’s design, including digital‑asset custody, audit trails and real‑time supervision of system decisions.

Prime Minister Edi Rama has previously promoted the use of AI to streamline public services. Following the suspension, officials said further deployment would require stricter oversight.

Diyella was introduced in January 2025 within e‑Albania as a prototype. The investigation is ongoing. No charges have been announced.

As GNcrypto wrote previously, Germanys BaFin warned that rapid AI adoption is creating systemic risks for banks through dependence on a few global tech providers. Banking supervisor Nicholas Spier urged firms to map data and compute supply chains, run vendor‑failure stress tests and diversify, echoing recent cautions from the ECB and Bank of England about high AI valuations and operational concentration.