Arapi: "We will carry out inspections together with the creditors." Today VEFA and the Government face the judges Today the State Moves Against Loan Sharks The chief inspector reads the law: if they do not let us in, they risk prison "Administrators must start work in these companies. Only then will the Bank unblock their money" Tax in a boxing ring On page 2 TIRANA - The chief inspector in charge of the loan-sharking case makes promises from the building. "Today the administrators begin work," Arapi confirms to the newspaper. Yesterday he gathered the 15 officials appointed by the Government who will be assigned to the rent-seeking firms. Arapi explains that if the new company managers again refuse to let the administrators work at their companies, they are in serious trouble. He recalls that the law on transparency provides that those who oppose the administrators are punished with five to fifteen years in prison. This article is calculated to punish with six months in prison those who officially oppose the managers. Arapi confirms that he has scheduled a meeting at midday today with representatives of VEFA’s creditors. "Let us cooperate to carry out transparency together. Their help is essential for the administrators’ work. A prompt start by the administrators will also unblock the bank accounts of these companies. Under the transparency law, the bank cannot carry out transactions if the documents do not also bear the administrators’ signature," Arapi confirms. On page 3

THE GAME WITH THE IMF Nano’s VAT “Poker” Fatos Baxhaku TIRANA - VAT was set yesterday at 20 percent. If only the Government had been better prepared, it had sent to the noisy chamber of the People’s Assembly the draft law that would have raised it to 22 percent. Yesterday several things happened. Leaving aside the clash between Hajdari and Nerezi, which caused more media uproar than the tax that enraged the whole country in the area, another moment occurred that had been pushed forward two months, and which may erupt more rapidly later. Nano had Nanos. Nano votes against himself. The Socialist Party wanted more for its own government. And the Albanian public has learned, or rather has painfully witnessed, that Albanian parliamentarians still do not even understand what is happening before the government itself. They do not understand it politically. Because instead of taking steps back on governance and positions, they chose to push through a rate of 20 percent, a version that was quickly legalized with the full backing of the opposition. So the oddity happened: the ruling camp loudly opposed something that one of its own governments had proposed to a calculation of deputies. What would explain that the Albanians’ line that has emerged has covered even this much of the outline of representative governance with a distasteful image, raised by the IMF. "VAT should be 22 percent," said the people sent from above. "Impossible, it should be 18 percent," replied Nano’s people. Further on, the conflict again ends at 20 percent, but instead of being set at 22 percent knowing that the result would remain 20, with the precedent of a government against itself. So, at least for now, the defeat turns out to be counted, until it reached a second stance, the IMF’s governance calculations, while Nano, wise enough, pulled his hands back. He won the first poker hand.

YEARS AGO, 11 OTHERS ALSO DIED Batra’s Tragedy: 19 Children Orphaned TIRANA - They wanted to light a fire to warm themselves, but the fire turned into a tragedy. Six miners from Batra died, not knowing that inside the old stove lurked the deadly trap. And after this tragedy, an even greater sorrow was raging: that of the 19 children left orphaned. The families of Milosh, Qerim, Shënu, Skorohes, and the two Llami cousins lived only on the income of the six miners. But this is not the first tragedy at the Batra mine. Around it there are records of 11 deaths, taken by life years ago. Eleven miners. Batra is a special mine; it demands that its own equipment remain inside itself. It does not kill in the way a gallery once irritated it, but when things get damp on the surface. On page 5

Shehu speaks: The Congress is a great chance for us Tritan Shehu PD Headquarters TIRANA - Tritan Shehu is calling for the legalization of factions within the PD. "If the party statute does not allow these, that does not mean it forbids them," the former head of the democrats believes that the party now needs a new way of thinking and a debated opposition within its forums. In an interview with Gazeta Shqiptare, Shehu goes further, calling for the Congress to be an open arena for free ideas and personalities, even though they are not now in the PD’s leadership structures. In recent times, the former leader of the democrats has begun sending clear signals of a tendency toward reforming the party he led for more than two years. On page 2 Tritan Shehu; PD Headquarters

U.S. INDEPENDENCE DAY. LINO WITH NANO AND MEJDANI. BERISHA AND THE JOURNALISTS WERE MISSING "Long live America" two months late Yesterday, on 16 September, the embassy celebrated July 4 Stockton private accounting office in Tirana TIRANA - Americans in Tirana did not forget to celebrate their national holiday, even though the ceremony was indeed delayed. U.S. Independence Day is 4 July, but only yesterday did the embassy of the great country decide to raise a toast with the invited guests at the celebration. Because 4 July was precisely one of those events and freedoms that were difficult for Albania. So the Americans, who at the time could not choose a more suitable moment, waited for a more appropriate date. Perhaps yesterday’s date - as the 75th anniversary of Albanian-American relations - was the best possible occasion to justify holding the celebration two months late. One participant said that, apart from the usual traditional things that happen on such occasions, two things really stood out during the cocktail ceremony at the American embassy: Berisha’s absence and that of the media people. From the ruling side, all the leaders had come: Nano, Fino, Milo, Zani, Imami and many other ministers, while from the opposition PD, only Tritan Shehu, Leonard Demi and Ylli Vejsiu raised their glasses. The reason for PD leader Sali Berisha’s refusal of the invitation is still unknown. A snub to the Americans, who did not come during the ceremony of his being proclaimed President for the second time? Or the old "resentments" after the cooling of relations with Tirana and Washington? In any case, yesterday at the Americans’ national celebration Gene Pollo was also absent. Drinks and a traditional American kitchen accompanied the official ceremony of U.S. diplomacy in Tirana. Almost all senior diplomats from European countries also took part. Many of them took the opportunity to have face-to-face contact with Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano, who, as one participant reports, was in the company of Ambassador Lino. Arjan Çani

TIRANA, TUSHA’S STATEMENT On page 4

BERAT On page 6

"We are waiting for the professionals" TVSH building On page 4

UEFA Today the Champions Cup begins. Barcelona-Newcastle is the match of the day On page 7

Notice N.T.T.St.Nr 2, with its own budget, seeks to carry out an open tender for the Purchase of Food Items. Tender documents may be collected upon written request for the amount of 1,500 lek, at the Procurement Unit of this enterprise until 10.10.1997, 15:30. The deadline for submitting documentation to the secretariat is 18.10.1997 at 08:30. The tender will take place on 18.10.1997 at 10:00. For further clarification, please contact the Canteens office of this Enterprise at the following address: Rruga "Muhamet Gjollesha", near I.K.F. "Vojo Kushi" tel: 290 24

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