ALEXANDRA ÇALAKU DENOUNCED ALL THE TESTIMONY OF SANE KORBEÇI CONCERNING THE REMOVAL OF THE INJURED FROM THE COMPETENT OFFICIAL INSTITUTIONS BY THE PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE OF THE ENTERPRISES.
Tropojë, in court
LIRË ALSO DECLARES THAT SHIPMENTS HAVE ARRIVED WITH PRICES 2-3 TIMES HIGHER THAN THOSE OF THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET.
THE PORT DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND THE WAREHOUSE CHIEF CONFIRM THAT FOR THE HANDLING OF ITALIAN AND FOREIGN SHIPS IN GJIRONA SA MAR THAT WERE TO BE SENT TO GJIROKASTRA, NOTHING WAS PAID. THUS OUR MERCHANT FLEET AND OUR PORT HAVE SUFFERED MAJOR ECONOMIC LOSSES.
LABORATORY WORKERS TESTIFY THAT THEY WERE ASKED FOR A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS AND NOT A QUALITATIVE ONE OF THE GOODS IN DURRËS.
ALEXANDRA ÇALAKU DENOUNCED ALL THE TESTIMONY OF SANE KORBEÇI CONCERNING THE REMOVAL OF THE INJURED FROM THE COMPETENT OFFICIAL INSTITUTIONS BY THE PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE OF THE ENTERPRISES.
"Some nano," with a half
NEW TESTIMONIES THAT CONFIRM NANO'S CRIME
"The chairman of the investigative commission received Rasim Leriana (with the list of goods and the late order for the actions).
The goods that arrived without invoices and accompanying documents were unloaded by order.
This is a testimony as such, more about the government’s guilt.
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At 9:15 a.m. the second court session against former prime minister Fatos Nano began, having been interrupted on 1 March. It was a marathon session, lasting until 6 p.m. During it, this court carried out a packed schedule. In the beginning it heard and questioned more than twenty witnesses, and afterwards it turned to reading several documents that had arrived at the court. The testimonies of those who appeared in the courtroom are many and varied. However, most of their testimony confirmed what the Prosecutor's Office had stated. It seems that from one session to the next more and more facts are being gathered in favor of the accusation. The special feature of yesterday's session was that a series of testimonies and documents were presented, linked to one of the darkest and most controversial points of the file, namely the transport, by a private company from Gjirokastër, of goods that arrived by ship at the port of Durrës. As is known, the first pages of the file often mention “Italian firms” and Italian ships of various names and types. A strong point of the accusation is that the transport of the goods unloaded from them was entrusted to a private firm, which did not even have the necessary legal documents to carry out such activity. According to the accusation, the state suffered major economic damage as a result. This issue has aroused great curiosity: who was this firm and how did it get involved in this business? Did former prime minister Fatos Nano really have any decision-making role?
Important clarifications on this were provided by a number of witnesses. The first witness was Aleksandra Çalaku, an employee of the Ministry of Transport, who at the time had been deputy director of the General Directorate of Road Transport. She was questioned right at the start of the hearing and occupied a relatively long time. To raise the credibility of her testimony, the presiding judge read out a service reference describing her as a very good employee. Mrs. Çalaku said that at that time Sana Korbeçi, the representative of the private company “Agro,” had come from Gjirokastër and was asking to engage in freight transport. This had attracted the Ministry's attention, since the company in question was unknown and did not have the necessary documentation. According to the witness, she had been ordered by her superiors to receive and assist this person. In the office she had also been shown an order that had come from above. The company's representative had requested a transport license, but had not submitted proper documents. The witness said that initially she had had serious reservations, but later pressure had been exerted for the matter to move forward. She stated that there had also been talks with other people coming from Gjirokastër, who were insistently interested in the quick resolution of the problem.
In her testimony, Aleksandra Çalaku challenged many of the earlier claims made by Sana Korbeçi. She said that Korbeçi had given the impression of a person without real experience in the field of transport and that her company lacked the necessary capacities. According to her, the license could not be issued on the basis of informal interventions. The witness also stated that the problem was not only linked to one private company, but to an entire hurried and irregular practice that was being followed for the goods arriving from Italy.
Later, other witnesses from the port and from the laboratory were heard. They confirmed that in some cases they had been asked to carry out only quantitative and not qualitative analyses of the goods. This, according to them, was contrary to normal inspection procedures. One witness stated that there were inconsistencies in the documents between the description of the goods and their actual condition. Others said that Italian ships were treated with unusual ease and that the usual fees were not paid. Shipments with prices much higher than those of the international market were also mentioned.
Subsequently, the port deputy director and warehouse supervisors described the way unloading, storage, and the entry and exit of goods had been carried out. According to them, the private company from Gjirokastër did not possess the means and conditions necessary to handle such a large volume of work. Some of them stated that they had already raised doubts at the time, but that the work had continued under pressure.
The session was closed late in the evening, after several more materials included in the file were also read out. The trial is expected to continue with the hearing of other witnesses and the examination of documents related to transport, customs, and the activity of the private company in question.
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Why is Namik stepping down? For Fatos's release from prison or for the chairman's cough? (Continues on page 2)