Spectacular fraud in broad daylight at the Savings Bank A fraudster managed to extract 43 million lekë from the country’s most powerful bank using a forged cheque. The scandal, which has caused problems among the Savings Bank’s staff, took place last Friday, while the fraud was identified only on Monday. The Savings Bank is the country’s most powerful bank, and continues to withstand all the financial turbulence in Albania On page 5

Summoned as a defendant “We’ll take Berisha by force” Prosecution: He organized September 14 On page 3

Arian Çani And yet another BLUFF on the stage of naive Albanian politics. The Prosecutor’s Office summons Sali Berisha as a defendant precisely on the days when a student strike breaks out, and the latter calls this act “political revenge by the left-wing coalition,” while making a declaration in a whirlwind that is expected never to erupt. And so this tragicomic serial of politics goes on without end. All of this is to confuse once again an exhausted people, to make them forget their everyday troubles. In this country where politicians keep pretending, in this country where there is no water, no electricity, no roads, no jobs, those in power and the opposition calmly continue their poker game, full of bluffs. It is strange that the Prosecutor’s Office should remember, precisely now, on the seventh day of the students’ strike, to summon Berisha as a defendant in a case dated September 14. The news suddenly spreads through the agencies and tor. The news suddenly spreads through the agencies and all well-behaved Albanians are now supposed to believe that the state has finally found the real culprit. All well-behaved Albanians are now supposed to wait and see what will happen on December 18. Will Berisha go to the Prosecutor’s Office as a defendant, or will the Prosecutor’s Office take him there by force? For another week, the scene of Albanian politics in this country has resembled a game of ping-pong, against which Albanian spectators systematically pay the ticket price, and it is costing them so much. Thus, besides all that, the age-old spectacle has never been absent from the inhabitants of this country.

DEFENCE Another compulsory reform will be carried out within the Albanian army. The state budget has once again been reduced, along with the amount allocated to the Albanian army for 1999. From 11.6 per cent of the state budget allocated to the army this year, spending will be cut by about four times for 1999. On page 2

ECONOMY For several days, the World Bank has suspended its funding for KESH under the project for electricity transmission and distribution. According to sources at the bank’s resident mission in Tirana, the suspension of funding... On page 8

“No one has asked us to extradite Ocalan to Albania, and even if they proposed it to us, we would be against it,” Maqo Lakrori, State Secretary for Euro-Atlantic Integration, said yesterday.

This official response from Tirana came yesterday afternoon in response to reports broadcast by foreign agencies that Albania would be the country to host the Kurdish leader. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also responded last night, saying: “This issue has nothing to do with Albania.” On page 10

WHEN BEDRI SPAHIU TOOK ALI KËLCYRA HOSTAGE On pages 12–13

KOÇI DENOUNCES ÇELO OVER THE MARCH EVENTS On page 6