Heads of the Secret Service sound the alarm TIRANA - SHIK is sounding the alarm. Disturbing information has reached the offices of the Information Service concerning violent actions and terrorist acts that could destabilize the situation in the country, creating panic and terror among the population. The political situation in the country has gained momentum following the arrest of six former officials of the Meksi government. But those who have been most occupied by this matter are precisely the politicians and the National Intelligence Service. In particular, the latter must be the first to face the avalanche that has begun to move, but is still far from the Capital. On page 4

INTERVIEW / Former head of the Court of Cassation speaks from the USA TIRANA - “Berisha, Mejdani, Gazidede, these are the main people responsible.” Zef Brozi, former Chief Justice of the Court of Cassation, declared yesterday that the arrest of some of the former senior officials of the PD accused of crimes during the March unrest should be only the tip of the iceberg. In Brozi’s view, the real causes of those tragic events, which were followed by thousands of deaths, lie with the people who were at the helm of the Albanian state. According to Brozi, Albanian justice must not show leniency toward any of the people with immunity who had a hand in last year’s March chaos. On page 2

Governor: There is an unofficial lending market; borrowing continues The pyramid schemes are coming back Bank alarm: Risk of fraud “There is an unofficial lending market, where companies or individuals borrow money to develop their activities. This exposes them to the risk of loss and fraud,” says a press release signed by Governor Shkëlqim Cani. In these circumstances, with loans from state-owned banks unavailable, the Bank of Albania has decided to liberalize the lending limit for banks. Meanwhile, the assets of the pyramid schemes are being auctioned off and their ruins evoke only bitter memories; the Bank of Albania’s warning comes like a bolt from the blue. “Based on economic logic and the experience of the past two years, the Bank of Albania is concerned that this market, taking advantage of certain clauses of the Civil Code on deposits and loans, which were abused ... On page 9 Battle outside Nano’s house

Battle outside Nano’s house. On the banner: To the blockmen—the young people of the old murderers

KOSOVO / By shellfire They struck a truck carrying refugees PRISTINA - The Serbs continue to make the Albanian tragedy ever more devastating. According to the Kosovo Information Center, 11 members of the same family have been killed. The pain is even greater when it is learned that eight of the victims were children and the other three were women. A tank shell, fired during bombardment with machine guns, struck the trailer of a tractor carrying members of the Asllani family, who were fleeing to escape the Serbian attacks in the village of Grapc in the municipality of Shtimje. The Human Rights Council in Suharekë reported that those killed on the spot were six-month-old Albiona, Antigona, 1, Xhaferi, 3, Shpendi, 5, Luljeta, 7, Ejupi, 9, Lumniu, 11, Burimi, 13, Ajsheja, 27, Halidja, 37, and Halldyzja, 65. On page 8

A myth about banks. Meanwhile, those who were abused. On page 9 The Albanian dilemma: loans or usury ILIR BABARAMO The Albanian economy will continue to revolve in a vicious circle of crises until the authorities decide to open the credit taps. The head of the Albanian banking system, Shkëlqim Cani, warned yesterday in a press release of the risk of the pyramid schemes being reborn. According to him, an unofficial credit market has begun to emerge—the very symptom that signals the onset of the collective madness of usury. While the banks have blocked the process of granting loans, many businesspeople have been forced to find unofficial ways of financing their activities. Albanian banks continue to be warehouses for money, failing to play the role for which every bank in the world was established: to lend. The main economic cause behind the emergence of the pyramid schemes was precisely the failure to grant loans. The phenomenon of borrowing began right at the closed doors of the banks. The scale of the catastrophe is now known. Nevertheless, banks continue not to grant loans, and businesspeople are forced to keep seeking illegal ways to obtain them. The process also begins with the drafting of the state budget, which sets the lending limit. The amounts allocated for lending have always been minimal throughout the years in which Albanians decided to build a market economy. But even these funds have not been used by the state-owned banks. This amount has not been put toward covering the shortfall in tax and customs revenues. Everything has been done to keep the deficit and inflation within the projected parameters. By now, the details of Albanian macroeconomic policy are also being set by the IMF. But the schemes used by the International Monetary Fund have proved to be the same as those it has applied in all other countries, regardless of each country’s specific characteristics. Because of emigration and some highly profitable trading activities that Albanians had the opportunity to engage in across the region, Albanian banks have a considerable reserve of capital, but it has been used for treasury bills—in other words, to finance the deficit. To avoid a repeat of the crisis, Cani announced that the lending limit would be liberalized. Even so, this statement of his remains mere demagoguery. He also declared that the limit projected for 1998, calculated at 40 million dollars for all banks, would not be exceeded. According to Cani, this room would be left for private banks to use. Nevertheless, the state-owned banks, which also hold the lion’s share of deposits, will continue to be barred from granting loans. Forty million dollars is a drop in the ocean compared with the capital held by Albanian banks, which is increasingly turning into a swamp that generates nothing but crises. What is happening in Albania is paradoxical. Banks, which ought to be institutions that inspire the economy, have become a source of asphyxiation for it. The drive to reduce inflation at any cost can turn into a phenomenon [text unclear]. The devaluation of the local currency last year alone is enough to understand this risk. The Albanian economy will continue to be beset by crises and characterized by stagnation unless the authorities decide to allow a credit boom. Only the smuggling kiosks do not need credit. And it is impossible to conceive of establishing a productive business without a bank’s involvement.

INTERVIEW/ PAD leader: It should be determined whether this is the party’s position Ceka: “PD should be outlawed” Unconstitutional calls should be tried TIRANA — “These statements are unconstitutional, so I think this matter should be referred to the judicial authorities.” It is somewhat difficult to say outright, but finally Neritan Ceka has admitted it: “Yes, PD risks being outlawed if it adopts this position as a party, with decisions made by its forums, but not when it is simply and solely a blunder by some of its members.” The leader of the Democratic Alliance, once close to PD leader Berisha, has not spared criticism and accusations over what he has called a clique that “is holding the Democratic Party hostage.” “In PD, we have now been left with only part of the grassroots base,” Ceka said, “and they remain with it for moral and ethical reasons; the others...” The others, according to him, cannot even be compared with the people who founded PD in 1990. On page 3

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loans or usury

GAZETA of Ciranë Downpour against kiosks without permits On page 5 GAZETA of Durrës “Demon” appears before the court On page 7 GAZETA of Shkodër The city’s terror in handcuffs On page 6