The investigation records closed by the Prosecutor’s Office in 2009 for the head of Properties are made public The investigation records closed by the Prosecutor’s Office in 2009 for the head of Properties THE PROSECUTOR’S FILE ON ELVIS CEFA OF THE PD The complaint by Vilma Nesturi, a representative of Gjikuria: His employee Irena Mjeshtri asked me for 100,000 euros for the director. Mjeshtri, a PD member, had also faced PS accusations of vote falsification in the 2005 elections News Vilma Nesturi, a member of a family of property owners in Vlorë, filed a complaint in November 2009 against AKKP employee Irena Mjeshtri, who according to testimony asked for 100,000 euros in the name of director Elvis Cefa, to recognize 50 hectares of land in Palasë as her property. After the confrontation, the employee was dismissed, while the prosecution closed the case TIRANE Arben Rrozhani Elvis Cefa, the PD candidate to become a member of the KLD and later its deputy chairman, had been mentioned in a corruption scandal in his post as director of the AKKP. According to a prosecution document... continues on pages 2-3 In the photo: Elvis Cefa and a facsimile of the decision of the Tirana Prosecutor’s Office in spring 2009 to dismiss Vilma Nesturi’s lawsuit against Irena Mjeshtri In the photo: Elvis Cefa and a facsimile of the decision of the Tirana Prosecutor’s Office in spring 2009 to dismiss Vilma Nesturi’s lawsuit against Irena Mjeshtri

Commentary BY AFRIM KRASNIQI The real debate on local mandates An MEP who deals with our country said quietly a few days ago that Albania is a country of paradoxes: “The EU puts pressure on and appeals for the political parties to meet and cooperate, but when this happens, Brussels fears that the parties will produce something wrong.” We have the example of the 2008 constitutional changes, we have the example of the introduction into the constitution of the CEC in 2006/2007, we had the example when the parties delegated political personnel to non-political institutions, and we have periodic examples of electoral ‘reforms’ that begin with a commitment to principles and values and end with deals at the expense of third parties. The latest ‘frightening consensus’ was the political debate over the constitutional mandates of the heads of local units. Politicians from both political sides unanimously say that mandates should be limited by law, that the current model has produced permanent leaders, that local governance resembles more the model of the Ottoman chieftain and pashalik than a modern governing model. In this way, the concern rightly raised by civic groups over the political misuse of local government is being turned by politics into an occasion to dictate its own consensual rules on representative mandates. The problem is constitutional: no constitution in EU countries has term limits for the heads of local units. Our Constitution creates the possibility for anyone to run and, if they win, to govern. The problem is legal. What legal mechanism can claim to stand above the Constitution and European legal principles? The Electoral Code has no restrictions and cannot have... continues on page 6

Edi Rama refuses. Nard Ndoka, Ndre Legisi, Skënder Gjinushi and Petro Koçi speak THE LEFT BLOCKED AFTER THE REQUEST TIRANE Anila Basha The left-wing coalition is facing serious difficulties. At the last meeting of this coalition, some of the leaders of allied parties asked PS chairman Edi Rama to ensure that their names are secure on the PS list,... Pages 4-6

Jul Deda, his wife speaks: He comes home for two hours and turns it upside down Pages 13-18

Page 10 Brussels: Debts, the government also tapped the foreign-exchange reserve

Page 7 Topalli removes the bill on state borders from the list

Page 12 The dancer: On the day of the accident I was working with Agron Aliaj

Page 9 Police officers stole 16 million lek from Shpresa Beçaj’s car

Basha gives a house to 21 January guard Agim Llupo and the adviser

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