The state has lost over 300 thousand dollars a month 900 tons of smuggled cigarettes The state has lost over 300 thousand dollars a month Customs scandal: new facts emerge from the Control Commission 900 tons of smuggled cigarettes ANDREA STEFANI TIRANA — The customs scandal is being laid bare in figures. Following the discovery of procedural violations, the damage suffered by the state budget as a result of the now-exposed customs scandal is beginning to be quantified. On the eve of this scandal—perhaps the biggest in terms of the financial losses it has caused—Thoma Bicalli, Director General of Customs, was arrested. Now that the investigations have advanced, although much remains to be examined, the sums reflecting the scale of the damage and the illicit gains appear staggering. Disorder, a lack of responsibility in keeping customs documentation and its falsification, and violations of the law—which should harmonize the financial interests of the state and private parties—have produced these anomalies, in which the state has suffered most. Meanwhile, many private entities have unlawfully benefited. A comparison of the inspection results from border customs posts with those from inland customs offices reveals many discrepancies. In the period January–March 1992 and October–December 1992 alone, of 2,311 entities routed to Tirana, 419 did not present themselves for customs clearance. Meanwhile, Tirana Customs cleared 579 consignments that had not been registered at the border posts. Of the total entities routed to Tirana from the Kapshtica customs post during October 1992–June 1993, 137 consignments were not cleared. The situation appears even worse at Kakavija Customs, which handles a much larger volume of activity. Until May 1993, there were no registers at all for the entry and exit of goods. As a result, according to some approximate calculations by specialists, these irregularities left 150 million lek uncollected in the state budget each month, corresponding to an average of 150 trucks not cleared through customs per month. Avoiding customs duties is most characteristic of consignments of goods subject to excise and high customs duties: tobacco, beverages and fuel. A comparison between the needs of the domestic market and the recorded circulation of imported goods, as well as domestic production, shows that around 900 tons, or 23 percent of the cigarettes consumed, were brought in through smuggling. In addition to evading customs, failure to comply with the prices set by the Government for certain imported goods has been another cause of considerable financial losses. A by-product of this manipulation was that traders presented customs officials with falsified invoices, in collusion with foreign manufacturers, showing the value of imported goods as minimal. In the period August–December 1992 alone, around 270 tons of cigarettes were brought into Albania at an average price of 1,210 dollars per ton, when their actual price ranged from 4,000 to 14,000 dollars per ton. By understating the invoice values for these consignments alone, the state was unable to collect over 1 million dollars, or around 300,000 dollars a month. It is suspected that price manipulation in purchases resulted in over 2,800,000 lek not being collected, while for the same phenomenon involving a wider range of goods, Tirana Customs failed to collect over 13,500,000 lek. Inspectors continue to uncover further losses resulting from manipulation of transport tariffs and humanitarian aid. These losses are also of considerable significance. Meanwhile, alongside the narrowing of opportunities for smuggling, customs revenues to the budget have begun to rise.

Judge Evelina Canale Investigator Canale concludes her mission in Albania TIRANA — Evelina Canale’s mission in Albania has ended. The Italian prosecutor’s office—which opened an investigation in Italy into Italian aid granted to Albania—left Rinas Airport around midday on Sunday. For six days Canale, as part of a parliamentary commission, assisted by two of her colleagues and Albanian colleagues, held numerous working sessions at the Tirana Prosecutor’s Office. Among former officials of Albanian ministries and senior institutions, prosecutor Canale also met with former Foreign Minister Rezzi Mallie and former Minister of Trade and Economic Relations with Foreign Countries Ylli Çabiri. Official sources also report that many former officials of the Nano and Ahmeti governments were among the other witnesses. Prosecutor Canale was also shown numerous documentary exhibits relating to what is called the aid scandal in both countries.

Sport The Parma-Milan super-match ends in a draw Sampdoria returns to become the third queen of the Italian championship Parma-Milan: footballer Asprilla (right) alongside Milan’s new foreign player, Desailes ● On page four: Serie A matches ● On page 3: Albanian championship

Charity tour TIRANA — A figure representing the bond of Christ will be attached to a truck and travel around distributing aid in Albania. The organizer of this initiative is Father Sebastiano Bernardini, who will begin collecting aid and all the proceeds in Italy today. His Albanian tour is expected to take place in the first days of January. “I think this will be a pleasant surprise for Albanian children,” says Father Bernardini, “just as it was for the young people of the former Yugoslavia.”

The Italian minister will come to Tirana The free areas in Albania will be cleared within the next week DURRËS — The news is now official: the “Pellicano” mission has ended. This was announced to journalists by Italian Defence Minister Fabio Fabbri, who has announced a visit to Albania next Friday. “I will go to Tirana and Durrës to bring this experience to an end,” Fabbri said, without going into details about the visit’s program. Fabbri may meet his Albanian counterpart, Minister Zhulal. “The news that Operation ‘Pellicano’ was about to end was published in the Albanian Gazette a week earlier, but had not received any official confirmation. The departure of the Italian soldiers and sailors based in Durrës is scheduled for the first week of December. Minister Fabbri

TIRANA — (Ar. Me.) “We demand that the scholarship be increased, otherwise we will go on strike,” declare the boarding students of the “Asim Vokshi” Foreign Languages School. Economic difficulties have also driven students from Tirana’s secondary schools—but who live in boarding schools—to announce a general strike. Resolving the scholarship issue—a decree approving its reduction for the entire school year—as well as improving living conditions, is the main reason for their demand. Today they are awaiting a response from the Ministry of Education.

DURRËS / He had arrived in Italy a few days earlier Maria kills an Albanian fisherman A friend of his is also wounded near Bari DURRËS — (p.r.e.) In a mafia-style murder on Saturday evening in the town of Triggiano, in the province of Bari, a 41-year-old fisherman from Durrës, so far identified as Salì, was killed by three gunshots. His friend Shpëtim Tabaku, 30, was also wounded in the shooting and is now hospitalized in serious condition. The Carabinieri, investigating the case together with the Bari Prosecutor’s Office, suspect that Salì was killed by an Italian for reasons connected to organized crime and the mafia. Other hypotheses include the trafficking of clandestine grants? and drug-related incidents. The murder took place in a home in Triggiano, where Salì and Shpëtim were having dinner together with other Albanian spouses. Salì had been in Triggiano since November 24, having arrived in Bari aboard a fishing boat. His recent activity in Italy without a special residence permit, while his mother, [sentence unclear] men approached the group and began firing a .38-caliber pistol, a weapon often used by mafia hitmen. Salì was hit by three bullets in the legs and two in the chest, and was taken to hospital. On Thursday night, the fisherman at the port of Bari and the captain of a fishing boat had landed around one hundred clandestine Albanians. Organized-crime elements are also believed to be involved in the trafficking of migrants. Investigators are now trying to verify whether an explosive [unclear] link may exist.

PERES, HEAD OF ISRAELI DIPLOMACY, IN ALBANIA — This is the first time a senior Israeli official has visited Albania. Simon Peres, Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, is making a series of visits. During his stay in Albania, Peres met with his Albanian counterpart and other senior figures in the country. Both sides expressed the view that this visit would help raise relations between the two countries to a higher level. IN SARANDË, PROPERTY OWNERSHIP ISSUE AT THE CENTER OF THE COURT’S ATTENTION — Around 60 percent of the civil cases heard by the Sarandë court during the period from June to November concern property ownership and housing disputes. With two fewer jurists than required, the court team has been forced to undertake a great deal of work. During the period in question, 423 civil cases and 40 criminal cases were heard. IN LAÇ, AGRICULTURAL BANK PROVIDES 3 MILLION LEK IN PRIVATE LOANS TO BUY SEED — Private farmers in the Laç district are feeling more at ease. The district’s Agricultural Bank has granted them 3 million lek to buy seed for planting. Thus, last year’s difficulty will not be repeated, when farmers—lacking financial resources—were forced to sow grain saved from their own fields, risking their crop yields. Meanwhile, the operation of pumping stations and drainage canals will make it easier to prevent the flooding of fields caused by the heavy rainfall this winter.

THE FAMILY OF THE DRUG KING IS TURNED AWAY — The family of Colombian cocaine king Pablo Escobar intended to take refuge in Germany but cannot enter the country, Frankfurt police announced at the end of a day during which the incident had been shrouded in mystery and the authorities had remained tight-lipped. ALGERIA, ULTIMATUM TO FOREIGNERS EXPIRES — The ultimatum to foreigners residing in Algeria expires. They are being asked to leave within 48 hours, under threat of restrictions on their freedom. If they do not leave, after being told on October 31 to leave the country within a month, they risk immediate prosecution. BOSNIA, BOMB ON CHURCH, THREE CHILDREN AND A WOMAN KILLED — Three children and a woman have been killed in a bombing of a church in Vranovskët, a small village in central Bosnia, near Zenica. Radio Zagreb reported this, saying the attack was carried out by former Croats, and that Muslims, or Catholics? [sic] fired six grenades at the church during a violent night mass. CALIFORNIA, MORE FIRES — California was once again hit over Saturday and Sunday by a major fire that engulfed one of its cities, but favorable weather conditions helped assess the rescue effort.