The Prosecutor General made cross-checks with several ministers who had approved and shared the profits among themselves Why doesn’t Prime Minister Meta remove from his cabinet the ministers accused by the prosecutor’s office and the media of corruption? What’s the common origin among the thieves in government? Why is President Meidani silent? page 2

Yesterday at 11 o’clock Meta sat down on the prime minister’s podium. In a calm voice, with his nose in the air, with the demeanor of an arrivist, confident about the future, he spoke to journalists in a tone of calm and indifference. He called the public outrage over the dismissal of Minister Spiro from the prime minister’s post “media noise” from political opponents. So, unlike a biblical parable, he did not even reasonably label as such the denunciation made by public opinion in what had become a banal paradox. The accusation against the dismissed minister was indeed confirmed by a deputy director who brought to justice the complaint filed against her for corruption. Further on, he, as in an incoherent account, tried to justify such conduct. “The state administration will be merciless against corruption.” Fine enough when he is silent. He, in a laughable and wholly fabricated way, accused the opponents’ abuses of the law. In a few verifications, beyond the search for a calm form of governance, there are so many avenues of corruption before the current government can manage to do what it says it will—“be merciless against corruption.” The way Meta spoke yesterday before journalists, and also the way he has behaved with these people, is enough to raise the highest alarm. That is not all. The growing dissatisfaction with his rule, including the corruption accusations against the government cabinet, has made Meta lose his composure. He thinks that with bombastic words he can ride out the storm. On the contrary, by displaying arrogance, Meta is entering a one-way road. Primarily those who are so discredited, in submission to people who are truly corrupt. We are talking about those who have signed transfers with insane sums, without respecting procedures, have allowed goods suspected of being smuggled to enter circulation, have favored certain businesses, and have illegally forgiven taxes and obligations. Protection for them, whether openly through political statements or by using the police to frighteningly push the media away from their circles, is not a good sign. Ilir Meta’s government and some of its ministers have the strongest suspicions precisely around the names of Minister Angjeli, and most recently the Minister of Interior Spartak Poci. The latter, if it happened, has endless evidence that the media has denounced for a long time. These have also appeared behind figures such as Zhulo, but with the ability to have an entire apparatus in their hands that protects them. The tired and weary citizen is coming to believe that the current government cannot break away from corruption. This is the most serious aspect of the situation, and the consequences will be far from negligible. Once accustomed to the calm of power, they think they can do anything. If Meta fails to understand this, it will not be long before his government takes a very rapid trajectory toward capitulation.

Writer Ismail Kadare with journalist Bernard-Henri Lévy yesterday at the book presentation photo P. LO page 20

IMF: You are short of 60 million USD from customs The state and the municipality are again yielding, even though the figures with the IMF were signed by the prime minister and the IMF were signed by the prime minister. The Savings Bank poses no risk to the association system. 7.5 billion lek, only 60 million dollars separated from 7.5 billion lek. This is how the report of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) describes the April conditions from the Albanian offices. It is presented as undecipherable for the government for the year 1999. This was undisputed for the name of the Albanian Ministry of Finance in the previous period. Although Angjeli and his ministers have claimed a very high level of achievements in customs, page 19

BARI - TIRANA 140,000 MONTAJITIM Arritën express! Durrës Road, Tirana Tel 83477 / 23450 Fax 32589

23 January 2000 100 mini-BINGOs with 100 thousand lek each 5 TELE-BINGOs with 10 million each 1 MAGO-BINGO with 5 million 1 STAR-BINGO with 1.5 million