Pyramid schemes accuse the Government
In the face of citizens’ uncertainty
Pyramid schemes, the most talked-about and enigmatic phenomenon, have for some time been worrying all Albanian society. Many citizens, gripped by panic and uncertainty over whether they will get back the money they invested in pyramid schemes and abandoned by the Government, which acts as if it knows nothing, feel utterly disappointed.
Regarding the punishment any citizen may suffer as a result of the fraudulent forms of pyramid schemes, some government official has tried to convince us that the citizens themselves are to blame for trusting them and handing over money without the appropriate guarantees. Therefore, they say, they have no reason to raise their voices about the losses they suffer. Some even cite articles of the Civil Code, thus justifying the indifference of state bodies toward such pyramid schemes, which from the outset had the scent of “uncertainty” and “fraud.”
• Sudja and others after it lured some depositors in order to create trust among others. This, too, is a form of fraud. Later, she said that you would not receive the interest, but that you would get your deposits back. Why this change? This also proves the fraud. Hopes of getting back the deposited sums faded as well. And people anxiously ask: where did our money go? They become angry, demonstrate, and some are even detained for “violating public order,” because they took part in “illegal gatherings,” because they “incited” others, and for some petition, etc. How can the failure of the competent state bodies to get involved be explained, starting with the government itself? Why did parliament not ask the Chairman of the Council of Ministers or the Minister of Finance to report on this problem? The transparency commission was set up after the damage had been done. What preventive measures were taken? On the contrary, the indifferent stance of state bodies encouraged this phenomenon.
It is neither right, nor moral, nor lawful to tell defrauded and harmed citizens, “As you make your bed, so must you lie in it,” or, as one chairman put it: “Sudja proved to be clever with the people and thus got them to hand over as much money as possible.”
Everything that has happened and is happening with the pyramid schemes directly accuses the government, which is just as responsible as the fraudsters before those whose livelihoods the schemes are snatching away.