Albania looks abroad for central bankers after theft

TIRANA (Reuters) - Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama is considering choosing a foreigner to head the central bank, sources said, and he has invited Albanians working in foreign banks to apply for seats on its board.

The central bank's board has proposed removing Ardian Fullani from the post of governor after a bank employee stole 713 million leks (£4.05 million) in cash from its vaults.

Fullani, who has been arrested on charges of failing to enforce bank rules, has declared himself "absolutely innocent".

A bank official who talked to Reuters on condition of anonymity said Rama had assured central bank directors in a closed-door meeting that the new governor would not be a politician. "... But why not a foreigner," Rama said, according to the official.

Albanians have headed the bank since World War Two.

On his Facebook page, Rama wrote on Thursday: "We shall appeal next week to Albanians in the international financial system to sit on the empty seats on the Supervisory Board of the Bank of Albania."

He was in China, where he is discussing investments. Fullani paved the way for the discussions with a currency swap deal with China's central bank.

Parliament has three weeks to fire Fullani after the board made the proposal, and should approve four new board members, including the governor who chairs it under the current law. Board members should be Albanian citizens, but this does not necessarily apply to the governor.

Speaking at a news conference on Monday, the prime minister said: "We surely want to give the Bank of Albania a governor who will be hailed internationally as an incontestable professional and moral candidate."

U.S. Ambassador Alexander A. Arvizu said there was no shortage of Albanians who were qualified for the job and the main parties should put aside their political interest to agree on the best candidates.

"But if they're not willing to do that or they're not able ... my experience has been that Albanians believe that some, not all, but some foreigners are more objective, are not subject to some of the nonsense that goes on here in Albania," he said.

Albania has been rocked by repeated bouts of political unrest since the fall of Communism in 1991, stalling the reforms necessary for the country to catch up with its Balkan neighbours on the road to EU accession.

In June the European Union granted Albania candidate status after rejecting it three times.

(Reporting by Benet Koleka, Editing by Ruth Pitchford)