Vehbi Alimuçaj is denied a U.S. visa, along with his wife Pages 7, 11

The PD will not give in. Three dead, several hundred injured, tens of thousands of demonstrators filling the streets of Albania’s cities, and two billion dollars lost have not been enough for reason to triumph over passion within the ruling party. Apparently, the people in the PD who share responsibility for the great Albanian tragedy have decided to remain fellow sufferers as well, in an end that is now closer than ever, although Berisha, Meksi and Shehu can no longer see it. Last night, the PD National Council decided to “go out to the grassroots” and explain itself to the people. Contact with the people, just as the PD’s predecessor party in power did for 50 years in a row, is the new formula invented by the “alchemy” of two doctors and an archaeologist. Nothing more ridiculous could have been said to Albanians at a time when they have left their homes and are sheltering beneath the roofs of collapsed pyramid schemes. Nothing more irresponsible could have come from the highest forum of a party that legally controls every square metre of this country. We Albanians have heard such solutions more than once, and from experience we understand that whenever the state has found itself on the brink of the abyss, it has issued calls “to talk to the people, to explain the difficulties and hardships.” That is what the Party of Labour always did, before it was erased from our collective memory by the Democratic Party’s four years of rule. While declaring that they must work with the people, Tritan Shehu does not explain whether he himself will go out to the grassroots too—for example, to Lushnje. The question of confidence in the Meksi government, which even King Leka in Johannesburg has now given an ultimatum to resign “within 24 hours,” is no longer a political problem for the PD. Keeping Leka’s (Meksi’s) cabinet in office has become a pathological problem for a number of irresponsible people who have taken Albanian democracy hostage, caused 3 billion dollars to disappear, ordered 3 killings in Vlora, and imprisoned the opposition. The survival of a government carrying such a record gives the opposition the moral right to demand that the medical files of those now leading the ruling party be opened, including those of the president and the prime minister. Voices within the PD have recently declared that Berisha may have health problems. Berisha, Shehu and Meksi do not want to understand that by refusing to stop running, they are hastening their own end. Nevertheless, it is coming, whether the PD wants it or not. Decisions are no longer made there alone. The Albanian people have the final say. However, it seems that the latter will pay dearly, through many sacrifices, for the establishment of democracy, because their fate no longer depends on politics or the economy, but perhaps on an illness. K.J

“Koha Jonë” has been following the trail of the “Diary” of Ana Frank—but this one belongs to Shemsie Kadria, President of the “Gjallica” Company. Following the company’s own admission that it sponsored the PD deputies’ election campaign in the turbulent city, the successful campaign in Vlora, Gëzim Zija, it seems the stone door is opening to the biggest pyramid to have fallen so far: “Gjallica.” In this context, after endless confusion, perhaps the time has come to shed light on the dark labyrinths and frightening secrets behind the construction of the Albanian pyramid schemes in Vlora. The deciphering of the two invoices published above, for the sponsorship of the PD with 60 million dollars each, appears to have prompted declarations by the ruling party’s leaders that “we have not benefited from the pyramid schemes”; following this, they must answer legally under the law on political party financing. The PD must account for how these funds were used, funds that are the blood and sweat of Albanians. It must explain why it lied to its own citizens, declaring more than once that it had not touched the money from the mass pyramid schemes. This has now been documented by sensational evidence, which begins with an explanation of the “coincidences” surrounding the latest dates in the accusations against “Gjallica.” The artful schemers The director of this company’s Vlora branch, Fitim Gërxhaliu, who goes on TVSH ... ... my [account]. The law grants this right only to the owner, who in this case is Shemsia Kadria. But later, Gërxhaliu tells “KJ” that he never made this statement. Just a few hours before 6 February, the date set for “Gjallica” to return the clients’ money, the company’s Turkish partner, Saladin Disha, was involved in a car “accident” while coming to Albania with a 60-million-dollar loan in his pocket. Meanwhile, while the left-wing press reports Kadria’s “illegal” [departure] to Tirana, the police issue a search notice only 30 minutes after she has left the runway at Rinas. The state-owned “Turkish Airlines” plane carrying the President of “Gjallica” to Turkey changes its route “because of bad weather.” This happened on the day Fitim Gërxhaliu arrived. Instead of landing at Istanbul airport, the plane landed in Izmir. And while Kadria left with her husband in a car waiting at the airport entrance, all the Albanians who had travelled with her as passengers were detained by the police for over two hours. One of the witnesses to the fateful journey says that Kadria arrived at Rinas in an official “Benz” 190 D, with an official license plate. Sources at Tirana Airport whisper that one of the leading members of the Democratic Party’s governing forums was in the car. Several sources testify that Mrs Kadria sold her real estate in Turkey for several million dol... As for Kadria, the Tirana Court of First Instance has still not signed the order for her arrest in absentia, but even if that happens, it seems unlikely to cause her much concern. The article under which she is charged, like the heads of the pyramid firms “Sudja,” “Xhaferri,” “Populli” and “Arkondi”—“defrauding citizens in cooperation”—is not in the category that would prompt Interpol to act for her extradition. So everything connected with the great escape had been planned down to the last detail. It matters little who devised and carried out the scenario. The architecture of the swindle targeting the citizens of Vlora and other districts of the country, which makes “Gjallica’s” amnesty possible, seems destined never to be punished. One thing is clear to its desperate clients. The promise on the portrait of their deputy, Zija—“I’ll notify everyone”—has not been fully carried out in its real version: “We’ll all lose.” It seems there are winners in this affair too, the biggest of whom is the Democratic Party itself. Kadria’s sponsorship has paid off. We are seeking to illuminate the inside of the pyramid, while its black shadow is blinding us all. According to two of Kadria’s entries, between 26 January and 13 February 1996 the PD received 100 thousand dollars. But throughout the entire diary, how much money is recorded as having gone into the ruling party’s coffers?

Facsimile from Shemsije Kadri’s personal diary Date: 26.01.1996 Plan — doctor 25 26 27 I took 50,000 $ for ... Democratic P[arty] [?] Democratic R[epublic] 27 FORECAST … 93.200 [?] … 103.800 [?] … 50.000 — Democratic R[epublic] SABBATO Date: 13.02.1996 [The diary] of the president of “Gjallica,” which has accidentally come into the hands of the editorial staff of the newspaper “Koha Jonë.” It tells of the sponsorships that “Gjallica” made to the Democratic Party with money belonging to Albanian creditors. The editorial staff of “Koha Jonë” will publish other documents with commentary showing where the millions belonging to Albanian citizens ended up.

The newspaper “Koha Jonë,” as a protest and as a voice, calls on all Albanians to switch off their televisions and lights today from 20:00 to 20:05, precisely when the TVSH news broadcast begins.