Pollo confesses: Berisha stole 1 million dollars
“He bought real estate in the names of his friends”
The conflict between the Democratic Party chairman and the reformers is escalating. Secrets are coming out
page 5
The usury noose reappears
Aleksandër Çipa
The Albanian governments that came to power from 29 June ’97 onward will also have the “usury noose” as their crowning feature, and it will keep the fate of their cabinets tied up for a long time. This noose also applies to Prime Minister Meta’s government. For well-known reasons, in successive cabinets the noose sometimes takes its literal form and sometimes remains only as the appearance of a “ring.” But in recent days it has become visible once again, because the issue has returned to the forefront. Another move is now under way involving the protagonists of the pyramid schemes: the Tirana Court has signed an order for Vehbi Alimuça to be transferred from 313 back to his home, while the prosecution confirms the extradition of Shemsie Kadri. In themselves, both these simple actions carry a public impact. Faced with the return of this issue, Prime Minister Meta is compelled to submit to the test—to the challenge. That is why, precisely one day after the Government’s contentious statement on the Tirana Court’s decision, there is a demand to speed up the Transparency Commission’s announcement of its findings. This response is inadequate, since official transparency itself is no longer transparent. In this convoluted situation, the Meta government is once again put to a serious test. To face it, the prime minister, unlike his Socialist predecessors, must find his own way of dealing with it. Naturally, the prime minister has the executive power to make the entire process of what is called transparency public. More than anyone else, he and his cabinet can announce the timetable for the procedure followed so far, presenting a complete account both of the great losses and of the misappropriation uncovered during the inventory. With this initiative, the prime minister and the entire Albanian executive have an obligation to provide real proof that those who “devoured” the assets left in the ruins of the collapsed pyramid schemes—or put back on the market by their administrators—will be punished. As part of this test, the prime minister would do well to refer once again to the electoral and political platform of the “Alliance for the State” and return to resolving the issue through executive action. At the very least, with this gesture the prime minister would avoid the appearance of being at the head of a state that carries nothing but certain uncertainty. In the relationship between his government and the citizens (though not through his fault), the torment of loss and the torment of unfulfilled promises remain present. As this unresolved issue drags on, the unfortunate people wander through the maze of the saying: “Having nothing to believe in.” Recent actions by the Albanian judiciary have cast yet another thick bank of fog over the “fate” of the lost money. (And fog, as always, cools the wound and makes it ache.) Meanwhile, the state, perhaps because some of its own agencies have been used, has brought about yet another reappearance of the “noose around the neck,” opening the way for political claims at the government’s expense.