The general is stripped of his ranks; Driza’s grapes are seized
The state had the handcuffs ready. The myth of the pyramid schemes collapses. Police surround the companies’ properties. Police officers withdraw their deposits. In Shkodër, documents are seized and money is counted
The state had the handcuffs ready. The myth of the pyramid schemes collapses. Police surround the companies’ properties
The general is stripped of his ranks; Driza’s grapes are seized
Police officers withdraw their deposits. In Shkodër, documents are seized and money is counted
General, what made you fall asleep? The river took our money away.
The Transparency Commission is out of the picture
. Gerxhalliu under house arrest. Sudja in prison. Xha-ferridhe Driza in handcuffs. The rentiers’ properties under police guard. In Krujë and Fushe-Kruje, police enter the offices of the “Xhaferri” foundation, put pressure on the foundation’s employees, and withdraw their own money. It seems that the epilogue of the pyramid schemes in Albania has begun to reveal its prospects day by day, at an ever-faster pace; apparently, it is only a matter of days. The government, for its part, decides to publish and specify in detail how the frozen funds of the foundations and the companies’ real estate assets will be administered. Although neither the state nor the rentiers themselves have said or declared it, bankruptcy is no longer a risk but a reality. What stands out in this case is the contrast with Sudja’s handcuffs. While the latter was officially declared under arrest after being made to announce the bankruptcy of her “pyramid scheme” in her own words, the others were arrested while declaring that their business was sound, proclaiming the charity of the century, and even while basking in the height of their glory and popularity at parties and banquets. It was said that the money had been frozen pending the conclusion of the Transparency Commission’s investigation. It was even officially announced that the law would strike the former “bosses” if the commission established that fraudulent pyramids existed. Nevertheless, the government made the seizure of 25.5 billion lekë a fait accompli, just as the Prosecutor’s Office snapped on the handcuffs, before the Transparency Commission had even spoken. Perhaps it was not the “pyramid” that finally buried the formerly imposing stature of those arrested beneath the handcuffs. It may have been anything else, from the much-discussed money laundering to the flight of the missing dollars, as reported by “Voice of America.” In any case, perhaps hiding behind the secrecy of the investigation, the official channels have confirmed nothing beyond the news of the arrests. There are rumors that, more than arrests, these are protective measures, as is the police cordon around the premises of “Gjallica.” What is clear now is that the Transparency Commission is completely out of the picture. If the “bosses” were not arrested as a result of the “pyramid” issue, then the findings of its investigation may serve the Prosecutor’s Office more than Parliament, by strengthening the charges. Conversely, if it was the Pyramid that sent the rentiers, or great philanthropists, to prison, the Prosecutor’s Office can boast that it beat Parliament and the Government to drawing on the information provided by the Commission. In any event, it is said that the latter continues its investigations at the bare-bones offices of “Populli” and “Xhaferi,” solely for the sake of economic professionalism, because apparently the Government had already had the handcuffs ready for the pyramid schemes.
General, what made you fall asleep? The river took our money away.
