Deposits in banks: here is what the rentee firms had absorbed by ’96 Money transfers, Luniku: “I suspect they are being recycled in order to launder them” In November 1996, the former Governor Luniku sounded the alarm. “The money is fleeing to the banks of other states” Eight foundations and rentee companies had deposited by the end of ’96 in Albanian banks around 41 billion lek, or 400 million USD Luniku: “Some foundations have sent money to the banks of various states. I have information that it has been deposited in Greek banks.” TIRANA - Has the money from the pyramid foundations gone to the banks of Europe? At least that is what the alarm last November suggested, when the financial pyramids were on the verge of collapse. Are they transferring capital to foreign banks and fuelling suspicions of money laundering? “This is the story that the Bank of Albania has been following, warning since October 1996. In a letter he sent at the time to the Government and other institutions, Luniku says that part of the blame lies with the officials themselves for their inability to control the circulation of foreign currency. If the capital deposited in the name of the rentee firms in foreign banks has been sent there to erase its trace, the Governor’s suspicion comes to the surface. Meanwhile, according to banking sources, the level of deposits on hand at the beginning of the years given for the deposits of the rentee firms rises at the end of 1996. According to bank data, it appears that “Xhaferi” was the champion of bank deposits. On page 5

INCIDENT WITH THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA TROPOJË - A serious incident with northern tones. Groups of Albanian tobacco smugglers crossed the border with the former Yugoslavia and were stopped by soldiers’ patrols. They were brought back in handcuffs, but later the soldiers were attacked by armed villagers from the area around the village of Zogaj; sector of pyramid T 15. During the exchange of fire, three smugglers were injured - one of them was shot in serious condition and taken to Kukës hospital. One of the smugglers said that they had been betrayed to the Yugoslavs by other smuggling competitors. Another similar incident also occurred in the Has area, when there was again an exchange of fire between foreign border patrols and villagers. The two sides left one injured person each at the scene. On page 4

TIRANA - Tirana is “surrounded” by tanks and armored vehicles. At five checkpoints, armored vehicles and tanks have been put on standby and will remain in service 24 hours a day. From now on, anyone entering the capital will be checked, and no one will be allowed in without identification documents. Meanwhile, since yesterday afternoon, police armored vehicles have begun patrolling the streets, and this will continue until the 29 June elections. On page 2

MEDIA AMID THE BLOODBATH TIRANA - Newspaper pages filled to the brim with violent news. Mass media and violence: this is the theme of a special page that Gazeta Shqiptare dedicates to one of the sharpest problems of today’s Albanian society. Journalists, psychologists and publicists have written about the way the Albanian press is supposed to reflect the reality created after the bloody events of recent times. The page has been prepared under the care of Virgjil Muçi. On page 7 Cartoon by Like Rehova

The government-presidency “ping-pong” returns Only one day after the President signed the decree Anti-feuds, Fino does not sign The government-presidency “ping-pong” returns TIRANA - “Anti-feuds”: has Berisha decreed the IMF version or the one drafted by his own financial experts? The story, which has now turned almost into a game of ping-pong, continued yesterday as well. Berisha once again spared none of his criticisms of Prime Minister Malaj, whom the president replaced in a press statement and described as “irresponsible”, while Tuesday’s move by the President was described by Prime Minister Fino and by Minister Malaj as something that should be criticized. Everything is tangled between the political aims of both sides and the altered text on behalf of the draft decree that is supposed to shed light on the obligations concerning the usurers. It seems that the whole debate revolves around a single point: what the role of the Minister of Finance will be in overseeing the rentee firm. Unlike any normal draft law, there has been a dispute over whether to include it as a competence; this time the sides are arguing precisely over the opposite, that there should not be so many powers, because the fear is that if the pyramids are “hidden” with too many powers, that means burdening them with too much responsibility. Berisha once again criticized Minister Malaj and the Fino government. Yesterday, the latter declared that he had decided not to countersign the decree that bears the name of the rescue of the firm in that house. Meanwhile, the firm in question has been decreed; this was a reaction to Berisha. The ping-pong story over usury and over the law that should shed light on the tragedy with state funds is expected to have a positive end, despite everyone debating and several twists. Until this decision is thought through and agreed upon, just as the leaders of the parties reached agreement only two days ago in Rome.

Meeting with Minister Napolitano fails OTRANTO TRAGEDY The survivors against Rome Meeting with Minister Napolitano fails BRINDISI - The three-day visit of the representative of the Otranto Tragedy in Italy lasted only a few hours. Krenar Xhavara cut short on Monday evening the meetings he was supposed to have for three days with various personalities in the Italian capital, saying he was “very disappointed” by the first decisive talks on the Carafa barracks issue and immediately after meeting representatives of Amnesty International and the secretary of the Italian Interior Minister Napolitano, with whom he says there is also a conflict there. “From both talks I noticed that no one wanted to take responsibility for resolving the issue of the ship Kater i Radës. Cezeli-Shqiptyri are now where they are after their sinking in Brindisi. ‘The representatives of Amnesty International told me to calm down; the judge De Castis will give a decision and then we will intervene. As for the meeting with Barberi, the secretary of Minister Napolitano, he sees the main problem as the expiration of our residence permits now at the end of August. According to him, it would be better for us to return to Albania and work there, also thanks to the assistance that would be given to us by the Italian state. I am sorry,’ says Xhavara, ‘that these officials have still not understood, or do not want to understand, that we, the survivors of the ‘Ka t i Radës’, will not leave Italy without bringing the truth to light.’ Xhavara together with the 13 boys and the woman left at Carafa insists that ‘we can no longer keep listening to empty talk’; the two Albanian technicians, Skënder Dule and Mynyr Daku, appear to have finished their work, preparing a report. “These data in the report of the Albanian technicians,” says the lawyer for the case, Giuseppe Maria Baffa, “must then be presented to Judge De Castis. The sooner they prepare this report, the more time we gain in the investigation work.” Although the attitude of the Albanian Otranto representative toward the delayed technicians may have changed a little, another Albanian engineer is preparing to cross the sea, invited by the survivors to help think about raising the ship. This is professor, academician and envoy from Vlora, Kujtim Çipi. Alba Maltez

Tirana, a problem in several areas TIRANA - An alarm over the pollution of drinking water at the Ministry of Health. In one area of Tirana, water has been found to have a high bacteriological content. The pollution has affected the areas from the branch of the artificial lake outside the ring road, parts of Little Selita, the bus park and the Kombinat district. The Health institutions, on the level of responsibility of the Ministry of Construction, the Tirana Municipality, the Roads Institute, are causing the spread of epidemics... On page 3

The officers were on patrol when they were attacked by a car ATTACK IN TIRANA Three police officers were injured on Monday at midnight The officers were on patrol when they were attacked by a car On page 2

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