“Meksi and Zhulali lost 9 million USD” The State Audit Office reports former officials to the Prosecutor’s Office A secret story comes to light. “Meiko” made payments outside the banking system KEKO’S COMMENT TIRANA - Investigations into Meksi and Zhulali. The request was received yesterday by the Prosecutor’s Office from the State Audit Office. A team from the audit department has shed light on the major mysteries surrounding the “Meico” company. Millions of dollars swallowed up in distant China; it is not known what they were used for or what arrived from that distant continent. The former Prime Minister is also accused of signing dubious documents, repeatedly and in various ways, in support of the “Meico” company’s suspicious activities. On page 3 Albanian children in Kosovo, frightened by the war

TIRANA NEWSPAPER Brajka: The Tirana of my dreams TIRANA - Brajka says that he would like a Tirana where the Municipality itself set the taxes and itself spent the money collected from them. “That’s how they did it in America, too,” Tirana’s mayor said yesterday, while directing all his criticism at the law that currently regulates relations between taxpayers, the Municipality and the central government. On page 5

PK will be outlawed Draft law: You decide A proposal by a group of Socialist MPs is expected to be discussed this week PD’s Blerim Çela reacts: “We oppose it; parties need activity” Indifference at PS headquarters, but Musa Ulqini is not opposed to a review Controversy is also expected over the article that bans the legalization of Enverist parties CORRUPTION OUT OF NECESSITY Election rallies, meetings, posters and expenses: politicians have to find a mountain of money for all this themselves. From now on there will be no more—at least, that is what the latest proposal by a group of Socialist MPs would require—companies living in the shadow of parties, or parties living in the shadow of companies. One of the most distinctive debates in politics in general has suddenly turned into a heated debate in Albania. Which is the better way: the one used by the Americans, namely declaring the source of the assets of all parties and the many people involved in politics, or the one used in some European countries, such as Italy, for example? Italy is well known for its scandals, where the economic activity of political parties is prohibited by law, but this has not stopped politicians from taking money under the table until the famous scandal broke, exposed by the well-known magistrate Di Pietro. It is not as if Albanian parties can be called the cleanest among their peers. Socialists and Democrats, or vice versa, have been firing arrows at one another for some time. When the Socialists were in power and supposedly the foremost of statesmen and politicians, they hid from the public the fact that corruption continued unabated. Now that politicians have returned to political battle, the old problem of party financing has also returned. Behind the legal phrase “Law on Political Parties”, which encompasses dozens of articles, lie many question marks—one of them being whether or not the dreaded Communist Parties will be allowed to form—but one of the articles that perhaps deserves the most discussion is the one mentioned above: how parties are financed. According to the group of Socialist MPs who proposed the draft law, which is very likely to pass soon, “the independent economic activity of parties is prohibited.” Its approval may mark a change in the economic life of many parties, especially in a country like ours, which is still unable to ensure compliance with many laws, even more important ones than this law on parties. What could happen? The first thing that comes to mind is not the existence of poor parties; quite the opposite. We wonder how politicians and parties will take money under the table when they are legally not allowed to own companies. Those affected will still be the wealthy; only their method of financing will change. And this will continue for a long time until an Albanian Di Pietro is found, but that will certainly take time. Would it not be better to consider changing the way politics is monitored? The problem is not financing itself so much as the way it is done. Banning the economic activity of parties is very likely to plunge the latter, regardless of their political affiliations, into a quagmire that could be avoided. There is still time.

VLORA - “The General of the Dead Army” returns to Albania, but this time not to recover the bodies of the Italian Army, but those of the Albanian army—specifically, what remained of the one that sank around the island of Sazan. Thus, for about a month, Italian sailors have been living and diving in the waters to recover as quickly as possible the “corpses” of the Albanian fleet. These are specialized Italian naval forces sent to recover the wreckage accumulated there before the unrest of March last year, and even earlier. The first things to emerge in the daylight were abandoned and sunken torpedo boats, left there after the unrest. On page 6

Ret... 2,000 Albanians return Large numbers of military forces patrol the border zone

Large numbers of military forces patrol the border strip The Greek broom starts roaring again Kakavijë, 2,000 Albanians sent back GJROKASTER — The Greek broom is sending 2,000 emigrants back to Albania. From Monday evening and throughout Tuesday, two thousand people were turned back along the border line, most of whom spent the night on the streets, in the gardens of the squares and apartment buildings of the stone city. The chief customs police officer at Kakavijë, Abedin Hitaj, said this was an action prompted by Greek Minister of Public Order Romeos, while the latter says that only people without documents are being sent back. On page 7

TIRANE — “We can hand him over to you as a prisoner, only if he will not be sentenced to capital punishment in your country.” This, in fewer words, was the condition set by the Germans for the extradition of an Albanian political convict. In December ’93, Albert Vinik was accused by the Bonn judicial authorities of killing a brother in Heidelberg and attempting to kill another person. After several years of searching, in November ’97 Interpol sent a notice that Vinjari had been detained in Albania. Following the usual procedures, the detainee should be extradited to the country where the crime was committed, but an unexpected obstacle came from the land of beer. In a letter received by the Ministry of Justice, the Bonn embassy asks for the Albanians’ assurance. “In your country, murder is punishable by death. We can withdraw our request for Vinjari to be tried, but you must assure us that he will not be sentenced to capital punishment,” the Germans write. The images of the Nazis of the Second World War seem to have been burned away in the face of such a request. Meanwhile, in the small country of the Eagles, the idea of a second look at suspending the death penalty now seems to everyone like a utopia. Nevertheless, the Germans have shown us something else: respect for a convicted person, regardless of where he comes from or what sins he carries on his back. Erjon Tase

A HOLLYWOOD TRIUMPH Jack Nicholson, Oscar winner Titanic sinks with 11 Oscars On page 8

TIRANA - The OSCE has hit a snag with VEFA’s creditors. As has become customary, whenever we cannot resolve an issue ourselves, the OSCE or one of its envoys intervenes; in this case, the same procedure was followed with the group of VEFA creditors. It seemed that things were moving in the right direction, since both the government and the International Monetary Fund agreed to accept a committee of creditors as a party to the transparency process, but then everything faded away. According to a press release from OSCE representatives in Tirana, on Friday evening two representatives of VEFA’s creditors, On page 9

SHKODËR - Police officers and prosecutors are buoyed by the latest arrests in Shkodër. Three very dangerous people, wanted for a long time and described as the key to the mystery of the murder involving people in positions of power, have been arrested. “There is now further testimony about the links between Azem Hajdari, Genc Pollo and Ylli Vejsiu and that massacre,” sources at the central prosecuting authority said. The combined efforts of the head of the Kukës police, Sokol Koçiu, along with senior prosecutors in Tirana and other agents, have finally produced the desired result. On page 7

Albanian children in Kosovo, frightened by the war