The Meidani file disappears in Parliament. Clash in the Committee between Ceka and Malaj “Ministers steal the rewards” Braho accuses: I have the Prosecutor’s Office documents “They received millions for fighting smuggling” TIRANA - “There are ministers and customs officers who have been rewarded with millions of lekë.” The accusation came from Spartak Braho, the well-known Socialist Party MP. The socialist jurist said he was appalled by the large sums with which some customs officers had been rewarded by order of the Director General of Customs, Gëzim Bleta. According to preliminary documents, they appear to have received as much as 23, 21 or 18 million lekë in a single payment, on the grounds that they had fought smuggling. But another fact, even more unbelievable to Braho, is the large sums in lekë received by certain ministers, whom he does not wish to name. “Besides customs officers, ministers and deputy ministers have also received rewards amounting to more than 10 million lekë because they intercepted a smuggled ship or truck,” Braho said. In Braho’s view, this action entails not so much legal responsibility as moral responsibility for these officials. THE CUSTOMS RING FATOS ÇOÇOLI According to an interview with the Minister of Public Order published in the Albanian Gazette, as a result of the strict controls carried out at all Albanian customs checkpoints in recent days, the number of vehicles—trucks, lorries and vans—unloaded from sea and land has fallen significantly. The figures have not yet been released, but, according to some customs officers’ estimates, “business has fallen by at least half.” Apparently, traders are waiting for this “storm” to pass. It can be inferred that at least one in every two trucks, lorries, etc. was being cleared through customs at below its real value, or was not being cleared at all. The testimony of a company economist revealed even more: “I went to Durrës to clear through customs a truck from Italy for our joint company. The truck had come from the Italian side and was loaded—” [The text then becomes unclear and appears incomplete.] ... and our tax-collection offices in recent years. This is a major reason why our state is so weak: it lacks the money to strengthen itself. Until now, it has not known how to collect the money due to it, or its own administration has sold the average 10% into bureaucrats’ private pockets and 90% into entrepreneurs’ pockets. This is how a considerable class of entrepreneurs has grown wealthy. Today they are the main generals of corruption, because they cannot easily give up buying off customs officers and other state employees—[unclear]—who bring them the chestnuts of ill-gotten wealth. It will be just as difficult for them to adapt to the rules of the game of a state governed by law as it is for the Government and the state to curb corruption to normal levels. This is where the real challenge lies: the ring, where illegal blows go unpunished, between the state and everything measured, passed through customs, every item either cleared at its real value, or not cleared at all. The testimony of an accountant at a company made the point even more strongly: “I went to Durrës to have a truck that had arrived from Italy cleared through customs Italian side and was loaded with spare parts for our business. When the customs officer leafed through the accompanying document from Italian customs, he gave me a look as if to say, ‘You’re fools!’, while the customs agent took me aside and said: ‘Why pay so much money in customs duties, 12 million old lekë? The goods are coming from your partner. He could have declared such a low value that you would have had to pay less than 2 million lekë. Here at our customs office they don’t even look at these things. So remember that for next time.’” Thousands of such lessons in abuse must have been heard at our customs offices. ... it is game of a state governed by the rule of law, just as it is difficult for the Government and the state to keep corruption within normal limits. This is where the real challenge lies: reviving the fight against the illegal collusion between the state and abusive entrepreneurs. So far, the Albanian state has always emerged the loser from this duel. It is time for the balance to tip in favor of what is right, the interests of everyone, and the law. If state institutions disrupt the abusive relationship between entrepreneur and customs officer, or entrepreneur and tax collector—the relationship woven from dozens or hundreds of fine threads, from the pyramid scheme of an apparently innocent café to the “gift” of a car or house—then they will be able to fight rampant corruption as best they can.

INTERVIEW On page 2 Brojka and Berisha

Demirel’s super-delegation TIRANA - Turkish President Demirel is coming to Tirana for the third time. This time he is the guest of Albania’s President Meidani. Along with the Head of State have come ministers from the government cabinet, parliamentarians, prominent figures and dozens of businesspeople. Demirel met with Meidani, and in addition to bilateral relations they discussed the crisis in Kosovo. According to Demirel, this issue should be resolved only by peaceful means. The President of Turkey has also signed a series of contracts with the Albanian side. On page 12

Prosecutors: He is far away; we don’t have time. Witnesses are afraid TIRANA - Zani has never been questioned by the prosecutors. The lawyer for the gang boss from the Cole neighbourhood is quite optimistic about the charges brought by investigators, two months before the deadline for concluding the investigation. The work of the prosecution team has been suspended for some time, and they are merely waiting for this deadline to expire before taking the case file to court. According to the lawyer, the materials gathered in support of the numerous charges do not appear to have been sufficient or convincing. Zani Caushi

FATOS BAXHAKU Sulejman is a very common name in Albania. It is borne by grandfathers, peasants ploughing their fields, teachers, pupils, and even well-known football coaches. A different Sulejman has landed in Rinas—not like the ordinary Albanians who share the same name, but a celebrated Sulejman, like his predecessor, the sultan known as “Suleiman the Magnificent.” Turkish President Sulejman Demirel has arrived in Rinas at the head of a large retinue of friends and [unclear], at a time when Albanians still do not know how to free themselves from the tragic fate that has gripped them for hundreds of years. A fate, in fact, closely bound up with [unclear] and Kastrioti, and the men who followed him understood that a Europe in which states based on national territories had already been established had been delayed for far too long, as it wrestled with its own opposing sentiment. Love turned simply into a memory, and thus Albania, [unclear], but also condemned by the treacherous games of the Great Powers, [unclear] its own independent life. The last of all its European peers. A fate it would suffer even to this day. Some five hundred years spent together had created even old ties, the kind that are difficult to extinguish. Turkey had begun to undergo its great crisis, from which only one man, Ataturku, would be able to lead it toward success. Among the battalions that overthrew “excellent.” Turkish President Suleyman Demirel arrived at Rinas at the head of a large entourage of people and so many others, them for hundreds of years. A fate that, in fact, is closely connected with Demirel’s ancestors. Love and hatred: these are the two words that run through our long coexistence with the people who came from Anatolia. At first they arrived almost without our realizing it. Entire tribes made up of beys from the West, people forgotten in their utter poverty, soldiers thirsty to conquer in the name of Allah. The long and bloody road to Europe passed precisely over that bridge called Arnautistan. Years and centuries had begun to shape a history and a civilization, of conquests and wars, but also of mutual sympathy. The first person to experience this contradictory feeling must have been Gjergj Kastrioti, our legendary hero. Skënderbeu was both a product of and an enemy to the sultans’ court. He was raised and educated among teachers of Islam, but had not abandoned Christianity, whose hero he later became. After 25 years of war, Albania became an Ottoman domain. Albanians did not give up their uprisings, but many of them made careers in the turbulent history of the Empire. Admirals, commanders-in-chief, prime ministers—all these posts were held mainly by Albanians. Perhaps their relatives played mainly by Albanians. Perhaps their relatives played [unclear text] In modern times, the old friendship was weakened by dictatorship. Although our shared history and names like Enver or Mehmet continue to attract many family members to rise up. Then came the time of Berisha, when Turkish military officers and politicians were among the most welcome people. In the army, in the secret services, in trade—everywhere were former members whom Berisha trusted, thanks in part to their Albanian origins. With Nano, it seemed that the old friendship had faded. In fact, it was no longer the bond that once made us brothers through smiles and speeches steeped in history. They were only ordinary relations, and nothing more. Since yesterday, with Demirel’s arrival, it seems that an old friendship has begun to raise its head again. Not only his presence at a time when Albania was surrounded on all sides by troubles, but also the large number of participants in the delegation, as well as the content of the speeches and statements delivered, show that only one thing is now beginning to be felt: instead of the confused feeling of love and hatred, love alone has begun to prevail. That is no small thing, at a time when everyone needs friends.

DURRËS Gazette DURRËS - The Prosecutor’s Office will now investigate the real [cases/people] involved in smuggling. The XXI Anti-Smuggling Division is preparing the original documentation on the smuggling operations and smugglers these days; on its basis, investigations will also begin into several Durrës bosses. On page 8

VLORË Gazette VLORË - The millions in funding for the reconstruction of Vlorë have been definitively approved by foreign donors. This was reconfirmed at a meeting at the Italian [bar/venue] in Bar- [unclear text], where it was said that projects under the PHARE programme would be launched very soon following approval of their funding. On page 7

GAZETA e Shkodrës SHKODËR - The roundtable of Shkodër’s political parties did not begin at 10 o’clock, as its organizers had announced. SHKODËR - The roundtable of Shkodër’s political parties did not begin at 10 o’clock, as its organizers had announced, because the leaders of the PD refused to sit at the table. The United Shkodër Right, the initiator of this roundtable, signaled the start of the meeting through its current chairman, Apollon Haxhi, at 10:30, but only for a few minutes. On page 6

Minister Kondi accuses the head of Tirana INTERVIEW / “I did not sign the extradition of the two Egyptians” TIRANË - The Minister of Justice criticizes the chief judge of the Court of First Instance. According to him, Pajtim Hoxha is responsible for breaches of discipline and failure to apply the law correctly at this court. On page 5