Disappearance of 1 billion drachmas reported Indebted trader flees Disappearance of 1 billion drachmas reported Huge scam with the savings of villagers Indebted trader flees ANDREA STEFANI KORÇE — The sudden escape of the president of the firm "Blini", based in the village of Gështenjas in the Pogradec district, has badly shaken the budgets of almost all the rural families in the Devoll district, awakening both panic and anger in them. Together with the trader, they crossed the Tushëmisht border checkpoint — only to disappear afterward into the most invisible sea with one billion Greek drachmas as well as a considerable amount of US dollars and German marks. This entire mass of “wealth” in foreign currency was obtained from villagers through fraud at monthly interest rates of 11-15 percent. Once again — here in the south of the country — the phenomenon of financial plundering by lenders has appeared, what economists call the “Ponzi phenomenon” — many people will remember this well-known Balzac character — but which in Albania is known as the “Sejdia phenomenon.” It seems that since its beginnings in December 1992, the firm "Blini" had as one of its sources the currency collected from villagers in the Devoll area. This money, earned mainly through the work of their people abroad, the villagers — despite the high interest rates — did not hesitate to place at its disposal. Their confidence was further increased by the contracts signed. In fact, the firm was at risk of collapse. Until 31 January of this year, "Blini" had regularly paid the promised monthly interest on the loans received. Then anomalies began. For three consecutive months the firm did not respect the contracts, extending the deadline until 10 May — according to the villagers' complaint — when its president suddenly left toward Macedonia from the Tushëmisht border point and never returned. Meetings between the worried lenders and members of the family, as well as employees of the firm, did not provide any explanation for his departure and still-suspected destination. Based on preliminary information, the affected families have filed a complaint with law-enforcement bodies, and even with the highest state authorities. They are demanding the extradition of the trader and the return of their money, which has now been lost [?]. Pogradec

The Pogradec contender loses the Prize The court rejects RTSH The Pogradec contender loses the Prize The show’s “Benz” ends up in Kuçovë The court rejects RTSH TIRANË — The "Benz Mercedes" from the "Rreth për 12 javë" show returns to the hands of Alma Rapo from Kuçovë. The Tirana Court finally decided — in Monday's proceedings — "to order TV to hand over the Grand Prize to Alma Rapo and declare invalid the decision of 23 March '94, when the Lottery Commission had proclaimed Spartak Kodra from Nixhaveri in Pogradec the winner." Thus, after Ines's request. Kuçovë-Pogradec, the adventure of the "Benz Mercedes" comes to an end far away. Lukan [?] waited in Kuçovë. Suda [?] thus also quickly to determine the final ownership of the Grand Prize, even though after the recount the decision of the Tirana Court, declaring Alma Rapo the defendant, has not yet been executed. Meanwhile the jury of "Rreth për 12 javë" is expected to head to Pogradec, where it is expected to give an official version of the winner of the competition. The story of the "Benz Mercedes" is no longer in doubt. Since 5 March, when a million Albanians had waited anxiously in front of their screens to learn the winner of the prize in a fair and clear way, the commission and jury declared a person the winner who later turned out not to be the real winner. For three months this issue has kept public opinion heated. The Lottery Commission — it was itself the second bee [?], during the live broadcast had declared the sale invalid, in fact. And three days later this Commission had decided to announce as winner the 22-year-old from Nixhaveri in Pogradec, Spartak Kodra. On that same day Alma Rapo went to the Tirana Court. For days the winner from Kuçovë and her mother walked around before leaving the capital, while Television paid about 160 dollars for her days and expenses in Tirana. “I had a lot of faith in Albanian Justice — says 18-year-old Alma Rapo after the Court's decision — and now I can hardly wait to take a drive with the ‘Benz’ through the streets of Kuçovë.” Edmond Laci Alma Rapo, the winner of the «Mercedes Benz» from Kuçovë

Measures for tourism TIRANË — The protective boundary lines for the three main lakes of Albania have now been defined: Lake Ohrid, Great Prespa and Lake Shkodra. The latest meeting of the National Territorial Planning Council approved a detailed study of the lake areas, which thus gain a special status. Alongside this study, another project was also approved, including urban development in detail for the Lake Ohrid area as well. The protective boundary lines of the country's largest lakes were defined on the basis of several criteria that take into account the special way in which the environment is protected in these areas. Thus, in order to preserve the environmental and morphological identity of the lake landscape intact, ecological beds, flora and fauna reserves, and forest parks have been included within the protection line. In these areas, the construction of factories that cause environmental pollution will not be permitted, but tourist developments are also planned — in both new and existing areas — as well as tourist infrastructure such as sports complexes, horse riding, golf and other activities of this kind. The boundary line of the lake area of Prespa — a completely virgin area offering major landscape and economic opportunities — begins along the border with Macedonia up to the valley of Mount Gradon. According to specialists, this protection zone — which includes a series of villages — offers many suitable opportunities for hunting activities. A large area will also be included in the protective boundary line of Lake Shkodra, which will extend from the mouth of the Buna River to near Hani i Hotit. In particular, Lake Ohrid has been examined, where in addition to its protective line, its urban development project has also been defined. Thus it aims to eliminate the possibility of massive and intensive construction that would endanger the landscape of this area, by using territories with tourist centers of small concentration. Thus, the places of Tushëmisht, Gajt, Starovë, Pojskë and Lin are planned to be turned into tourist villages with urban, architectural structures. All of this will be done while preserving the existing volumes and responding, on the same scale, with new construction. Mainly in this area it is planned to build small 2- to 3-storey buildings or various comfortable campsites. To make the beach of the area as attractive as possible, the use of a tourist port is planned — to be built at the entrance to the city of Pogradec — which will offer mooring space for 150 small and large boats. Armand Mero

“False declarations were approved” TIRANE — Single-storey houses registered as two-storey ones, ordinary huts considered to be stone constructions, compensation for real estate seized by the communist regime but with no name at all of those who benefited from the money, compensation for confiscations that never took place. These are the serious irregularities that the State Control has verified in the activity of the Berat district Council after a long inspection of the documentation on the use of state funds that were used to compensate for confiscated damages as politically suspect. Now the evidence gathered is sufficient to bring matters to a close for the chairman and the deputy chairman of the district Council, Vjollca Hoxha. For the latter, her dismissal from office has also been proposed. All citizens who benefited from compensation to which they were not entitled will have to return the money. According to State Control sources, the damage caused to the state budget by all these irregularities, only in the years 1992-1993 and during the first quarter of this year, has reached a very high figure: 12,857,059 lekë. The greatest damage appears to have been caused by compensation for properties that, in fact, were never confiscated at all. Of the two such cases verified by the Control Commission, the loss was 8,099,851 lekë. The control bodies have asked the Ministry of Finance to verify similar activity in all districts of the country.

Just the heat? TIRANE — But to go to the “beach” also means ending up in... prison. The summer adventure of Sunday ended badly for an enigmatic character from the capital, while his “week-end” had drawn curiosity in the square in front of the University of Tirana and near the Presidency of the Republic. Around 11 o'clock, law-enforcement officers caught the citizen G.M. in the act and stopped him; he was naked, stripped bare from the back. Now accused of “indecent behaviour in society”, the Prosecutor's Office has extended the detention order. However, the motives that forced the enigmatic “beachgoer” to boycott the capital's beach that day, or the Adriatic, and to choose precisely the place near the Presidency of the Republic, have still not been disclosed. The aura of mystery surrounding his action remains, since it is believed that G.M. even before the investigators refused to give any explanation. Perhaps before the charge — which carries a sentence of up to five years' imprisonment — everything may soon be clarified. (Ed.La)

LAC — Another journalist falls victim to street violence. This time it is 30-year-old Durim Taçi — ATSH's permanent correspondent for Laç — who was beaten by several people in the city center, near the PTT offices. After three days in the city's Emergency Unit, almost in a coma, on Monday doctors finally reported an improvement in his health condition. On that same day — as his colleagues at ATSH confirm — following the complaint, the District Prosecutor's Office also opened a criminal case. For the incident that occurred around 21:30 on 10 June, neither the perpetrators nor the exact motives that led to this serious incident have yet been confirmed. Nor can the hypothesis be confirmed that Taçi fell victim to some possible revenge because of his professional activity. Meanwhile the investigation continues. (e.l.)

The center of Korçë Today in front of the Shpinit (?) venue (TVK) Television of Korçë. Even though it had only 60 minutes of programming — on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. — for the first time in Albania it was simultaneously received [?] by satellite by that one. Now Television of Korçë showed it during the first pilot test of the television broadcasts of this station. The experiment, news, advertisements, different interviews. But the most special thing was the center of Korçë, the medieval church, around the menus of [?,] in front. After this success, the staff is thought to begin TVK broadcasting only a few times a week.

Lack of time? TIRANE — The long-awaited meeting of the EC Foreign Ministers in Luxembourg ended without any visible result for Albania. It is expected that the meeting of senior European officials will discuss the decision of Greece, which twice in a row had used its veto at the meeting of the ECOFIN committee of finance ministers to block the 35 million ECU aid. The delicate issue of relations between Albania and Greece was not on the agenda of the European ministers' meeting, but diplomatic sources had given hope that the matter would be discussed at Monday's working lunch. The “discussion” of this point was not considered for the reason that time was occupied, according to diplomatic sources from Luxembourg. The ministerial meeting, in no way?, was withdrawn as usual by the representatives of Greece, which also this once ... until the end of the month. Apparently, the final solution to the problem of blocked aid for Albania will be left to the next ECOFIN meeting. E.L.

TIRANE, TWO DANGEROUS PEOPLE ARRESTED — Wanted since October '93, they are now in the hands of the law-enforcement authorities: Ardi Sp? [?], h? [?], 23 years old, the first accused of murder and the other two accused of unlawful possession of weapons, violent robbery in millions and many other offences. After the successful operation by the capital's Police Commissariat, Spahiu and Shehu were found at 9 p.m. on 21 April in a city premises. “T?, Thomson automatic and Makarov [?], with which they had fired, were seized from their homes, while two other people who had sheltered the wanted men were also detained. MEKSI AND SËRBOJ MEET WITH THE MONTENEGRIN PRIME MINISTER IN DURRES — During a transit passage through Albania, the Montenegrin Prime Minister, Shukanoviç, met with the Albanian Prime Minister, Aleksandër Meksi. Present at this meeting were Alfred Serreqi, in d? [?] also with the Foreign Minister, Alfred Serreqi. In the statement by the Albanian authorities, it was made known that the discussion focused at length on refugee problems, economic exchanges and the common interests that bind the two countries. In particular, the issue of the former Yugoslavia was discussed. EXPERTS — a group of experts from the Council of Europe is now carrying out, in coordination with the deputy minister of Labour, a study on the situation of refugees in Albania. Their goal is to prepare a long-term plan that will help understand the difficulties of refugee integration. LAW-AND-ORDER TOWN, THE NEWEST CITY IN ALBANIA — The Protection Committee and the new city of Saranda have examined the study options and decided to give the city the name "Rendi". The name was chosen to honor the work of the law-enforcement forces. LACI [?]

The regime's “view” on wrapping paper TIRANE — The literary works of the dictatorship will be turned into cardboard for packaging. All of them, from the early reflections of Enver Hoxha, “seven days with the last thoughts of ‘Our Enver’”, to Ramiz Alia's hundreds of novels on paper — until a few years ago considered sacred works by the regime's ideology — now abandoned in warehouses, will be sold as worthless paper, destined for cardboard-producing factories. The decision was included in the government's 14 June decree, signed on Monday in a meeting by the Minister of Industry and Economy and the Minister of Finance. This initiative had been talked about for a long time, but it was necessary for the Government to make a larger sum available, so as to cover the transport costs of the volumes as well; otherwise, the thousands of works scattered throughout the country would never have reached Tirane, where they will also be shredded. The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, which coordinates the printing houses, will announce an open public tender also involving foreign companies, since the Albanian paper mills are not in a position to handle the entire quantity of volumes, as their production capacity is still limited. There has been great interest in this matter from specialized industries in Macedonia. The decision includes, without exception, all works of political content produced during the dictatorship and now antiquated, that is, those works brought to power by force. According to specialists from the Ministry of Culture, this decision includes not only Enver Hoxha's 70 works, but also those conceived and written by all the leaders of the former Labour Party regime, including Ramiz Alia, the last president of the regime. The conversion into cardboard includes all copies — with the exception of only 10 copies of each work — which will be preserved in the National Library in monumental condition to save the country's historical heritage immediately. (f.p.)

In the European Parliament, the centre and the right Berlusconi's victory in Italy ON PAGE 2 Secrets to having an elegant body What should be avoided ON PAGE 3

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