Influential Albanian Politician Led Organized Crime Group in Australia, Intelligence Reports Claim – OCCRP

Tom Doshi, a powerful Albanian businessman and politician tied to the country’s prime minister, is suspected of leading an organized criminal group implicated in money laundering, drug trafficking, and other offenses in Australia, according to confidential intelligence assessments.

This clan is among others from Shkodër, a county in northwest Albania, that have systematically abused Australia’s immigration system to build “an entire Albanian Organized Crime criminal structure” across South Australia, according to the reports.

The documents, produced by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) and circulated to domestic and foreign police agencies, draw on numerous reports from local police forces and information from foreign law enforcement bodies. They were seen by reporters from OCCRP and Australia’s The Age and Sydney Morning Herald newspapers.

The files describe how, since 2000, Albanian clans have used identity fraud and familial links to migration agents to move their people into Australia, setting up cells in Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth, and elsewhere.

Doshi is described in the files as the “head” of a syndicate “principally consisting of his extended family.” Though the documents contain no details about his specific activities, they note that eight of his relatives have been “implicated” in “drug and money laundering investigations,” in some cases as “primary targets.” His relatives are said in the reports to have gained Australian visas using spurious documentation. One is facing drug trafficking charges.

Doshi, who spent years in both countries, has not been charged with any crimes in Australia. In his homeland, he had built a business empire that has benefited extensively from state contracts. He was designated persona non grata by the United States in 2018 for “involvement in significant corruption” and forced out of his parliamentary seat in 2021 following years of high-profile scandals. His alleged involvement in the Australian criminal network has never been previously revealed.

“I have never in my life been involved in any way with drug smuggling, human trafficking, arms trafficking, money laundering, or illegal immigration in Australia, or Albania, or anywhere else,” Doshi wrote in response to reporters’ questions. “In fact, as a Member of the Albanian Parliament, I

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

SDGs addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article:

1. SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
2. SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
3. SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
4. SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

Specific targets under those SDGs based on the article’s content:

• Target 16.4: By 2030, significantly reduce illicit financial and arms flows, strengthen the recovery and return of stolen assets, and combat all forms of organized crime
• Target 8.7: Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labor, end modern slavery and human trafficking, and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labor in all its forms
• Target 10.7: Facilitate orderly, safe, regular, and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies
• Target 16.3: Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all

Indicators mentioned or implied in the article:

• Indicator 16.4.1: Total value of inward and outward illicit financial flows (in current United States dollars)
• Indicator 8.7.1: Proportion and number of children aged 5-17 years engaged in child labor, by sex and age group
• Indicator 10.7.1: Recruitment cost borne by employee as a proportion of yearly income earned in country of destination
• Indicator 16.3.1: Proportion of victims of violence in the previous 12 months who reported their victimization to competent authorities or other officially recognized mechanisms

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

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Source: occrp.org

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