anti-smuggling Meta: We launched the operation “clean hands” The Prime Minister announces the operation before the police chiefs Meta to the police: Fight smuggling so that millions do not end up in the pockets of those in power and criminals TIRANA - “You have,” - the Albanian prime minister told the chiefs of the district police commissariats and the chiefs of border police and of this police directorate, “a historical mission, the duty of cleaning up and normalizing the country. The fight against crime, the fight against smuggling, the fight against corruption, the biggest battle undertaken by this institution and by you. Meta made it clear that he was taking the final decision for the operation “clean hands”. PAGE 16 The Albanian Prime Minister Ilir Meta

INTERVIEW Meta irate to BBC: We are determined to take the fight against corruption to the end and to forgive no one It has come time to put ministers in jail If there is no such reaction from the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Minister of Justice, such an alliance with organized crime is being created in order to strike the political opponents of the government led by the new Prime Minister Ilir Meta, and that the right-wing government should take unconstitutional decisions. META: “For the first time I feel that many people are hoping in the government. We are determined to take the fight against corruption to the end and to forgive no one.” The conversation of Prime Minister Ilir Meta on the program “Morning with BBC”, with BBC journalists, held yesterday at the end of the press conference for the first 100 days of the new government, focused on the fight against corruption. The Prime Minister said that “If the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Ministry of Justice do not react strongly to the denunciations we make against corruption, then we are dealing with such an alliance with organized crime to strike the political opponents of the government”. Prime Minister Meta also said that “This is now becoming clear through the decision taken by the government yesterday to intensify the fight against corruption by including senior officials as well”. When the BBC journalist asked the question “Has the time come to put ministers in jail?” Meta replied: “From what I have established, the time has come to put ministers in jail”. The Prime Minister said that the fight against corruption also meant correcting the distortion of the high administration by clientelist structures. “The goal is not to go on a witch-hunt but to create opportunities for the actions of institutions to function on the basis of law”. The Prime Minister also answered the question of who and what was the degree of involvement of the family members of high officials in this phenomenon. “I am sorry to say that in some cases family members and people close to them have also been involved in bribery and corruption. But we will not conduct a witch-hunt. We are simply giving a chance for the functioning of the state on lawful bases and at the same time defining the priorities that it must have in the fight against corruption.” During this conference for the first 100 days of governance, Prime Minister Ilir Meta stated that “We have inherited a very serious situation of corruption, we have indeed inherited a centralized economy, old-fashioned from the past, but also a jungle where everyone seeks to gain and seize everything, which must not be taken into consideration.” The Albanian Prime Minister Ilir Meta

If there is no such reaction from the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Minister of Justice , such an alliance with organized crime is being created in order to strike the political opponents of the government led by the new Prime Minister Ilir Meta. Meta told the program “Morning with BBC” that this is a motion against the new government. From there Mr. Process [?] The Prime Minister also said that “The fight against smuggling is not only about the reaction of customs but also about the reaction of state order and of such institutions to close this dark chapter of the transition”. The Prime Minister expressed his conviction that, in addition to the action of the prosecution and the Ministry of Justice, it is enough to have a civic outcry and political determination not to tolerate any corrupt act.

in Albania bright and cloudy temperatures: 1 to 9°

All political opponents komibta [?] has sentenced to death PAGE 5

Berisha will ask [?] the enforcement banks [?] Berisha will ask [?] the enforcement banks [?] PAGE 5

Bersha, will ask the enforcement banks 5

22 the truck driver of the Corleone ones the road lets them go “to the market” A tragic accident for the disturbing cabuani PAGE 4

Blocked autobuses with 10 thousand lira today Police, handcuffs on the thieves

NATIONAL TELE-BINGO 16 January 2000 400 THOUSAND-BINGO from 10 thousand 1 HOUSE-BINGO 5 million 1 CAR-BINGO 5 million 1 STACK-BINGO much more PAGE 4

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