INVESTIGATION PAGE 3 New facts emerge about the Treasury theft The Socialists on the island of treasure

By Enkel Demi Now there is only one thing we can all be sure of. The Treasury was stolen. The thieves are unknown. The sides are at loggerheads. The Albanian government declared yesterday that the Treasury was stolen after 1997. The government knew about this incident, but remained silent for so long for reasons of state secrecy. The Governor of the Bank of Albania, Cani, said at a meeting of the Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania that this story had not been disclosed before because panic was not to be spread. None of the people in power today has explained why the articles and information published so far about this event have been so focused. The coalition is content simply to pass the ball from one name to another. Declaring after so many years that this story resulted from the chaos and thievery of the former government has no impact. The Socialists could have reported this fact from the very beginning and left the political fallout at Berisha’s and the DP’s door. There are two possibilities: 1. They did not report it at the time because they were uninformed. 2. They did not speak out because they were naive, and today they are paying the price for their naivety. If we accept the first possibility—that they were uninformed—we must at the same time accept that they were completely incapable of holding on to a set of keys, let alone a responsibility that belongs to the state. If they were naive, then they missed the chance to play the theft card against Berisha, a card he is now successfully waving in front of their eyes. The people in power now have only one chance: to find the thieves and keep a tight hold on the keys. If they continue with propaganda, they are completely lost in this mess, which they themselves failed to clear up in time.

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The Albanian beauty pageants, in two groups with two presenters “The managers of Albanian Radio and Television are interested in lining their pockets with Telebingo and are not very interested in the legal truth.” According to director Petri Bozo, “the envelope Ardit can give to Edi Mazi is ten times bigger than the envelope I can give.” Page 13

Parliament declares a 48-hour ceasefire The many debates over the new Electoral Code, which were present at yesterday’s meeting of the Laws Commission, fell silent last night in the hall of the Albanian Parliament, while a further two days have been made available to reach a compromise on the matter. Page 2

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