TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Prosecutors say that the mayor of an Albanian town has been arrested for using forged documentation to hide past criminal convictions.

Elvis Roshi, the mayor of Kavaja, 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of the capital, Tirana, is the first official to be arrested based on a six-month old anti-corruption law that requires the vetting of public officials.

A statement from the prosecutor general's press office on Monday said Roshi, 41, provided false documentation that hides criminal convictions in Italy and Switzerland dating to the 1990s. Prosecutors noted that he was convicted of rape in Italy but gave no other details.

The law passed in December is considered a key tool in fighting corruption, a major obstacle to Albania's ambitions to join the European Union.