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Books on Albania
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Update No: 126 - (26/11/07)
There is no doubt what is the main problem of Albanian public
life - corruption.
The latest Transparency International report, TI, made public at the end of
September, shows that Albania ranks worst in the Balkans when it comes to the
level of perceived corruption, and has made only a marginal 0.3 point
improvement in the index last year. The government put the blame for this poor
performance on the prosecutor-general, who protests that he is being made a
scapegoat.
It is indeed true, whatever the degree of his complicity in it, that venality is
a way of life in Albania, as is mountain banditry.
"Clean Hands" to the fore?
The new official "Clean Hands" operations that have netted allegedly
corrupt officials echo the campaign slogan of the current coalition in the
run-up to the July 2005 parliamentary elections in which it gained power.
However, until recently the slogan remained little more than a rallying cry,
because Premier Sali Berisha's government had not much to show in terms of what
had been achieved in delivering on his main election pledge. Mero Baze, the
publisher of the pro-government daily Tema also blames the prosecutor-general's
office for the fact the fight against corruption is not targeted at the right
level, as many officials in the administration feel immune. "I think the
war against corruption is being stopped by a certain amount of bravado in the
administration, that is the result of the lack of action from the prosecutor's
office", says Baze.
Genc Caushi, the executive director of the Albanian Coalition against
Corruption, also justifies the government's move. "Corruption is a crime,
and as such it must be punished", he stresses. "According to the
latest Transparency International report, 93 per cent of Albanians view the
justice system as corrupt. With such a high rate of corruption, punishment is
unavoidable but not enough, because in the war against corruption all the
structures of Albanian society should participate," adds Caushi.
Nazarko says that the conflict between the government and the
prosecutor-general's office is a setback in the war against corruption. "By
unleashing an attack against the prosecutor's office, in a clear attempt to
monopolize its control over it, this administration has to bear the
responsibility, if the war against corruption is not progressing, as it
should," says Nazarko.
Cili strikes a more optimistic note. He thinks that the end of this conflict
could lend a fresh impulse to the struggle against corruption in the system.
"The resolution of the issue of the prosecutor-general is going to change
the situation," he says.
Others remain unconvinced. As the government's struggle to remove the
prosecutor-general from office shows no signs of an early resolution, many
Albanians wonder if their political class has matured enough to secure their
European dreams.
Premier versus prosecutor-general
Prime Minister Berisha has been locked in a long unsuccessful battle to remove
Prosecutor-General Theodori Sollaku, whom he has accused of having ties with
organised crime and of failing to pursue corruption cases. Sollaku has denied
all allegations against him and said the attempt to remove him was proof the
government wants control over the judiciary.
It is an irony that it was Berisha who proposed Sollaku for the job in the first
place, when his Democratic Party was in opposition in 2002. A former adviser to
Berisha when he was president, Sollaku has been at odds with his former boss
since 2005. Berisha has been accusing the general prosecutor of not acting
against corrupt officials of the former socialist-led government.
The centre-right coalition led by Berisha first established a parliamentary
investigative commission last year to try to remove Sollaku, but former
President Alfred Moisiu refused to join forces with the government, insisting
that the commission had not gathered sufficient evidence to justify the
prosecutor-general's dismissal.
After Bamir Topi, the PD's former deputy head, was elected President in July,
Berisha and other leaders relaunched their campaign for Sollaku's removal.
In what many see as a response to attempts to remove him, in October Sollaku
ordered the arrests of Albania's deputy Minister of Transport, Nikolin Jaka, and
a number of senior officials at his ministry. Four former officials of the
state-owned energy company, Albpetrol, were detained in the city of Fier, south
of Tirana, on charges of corruption and embezzlement. Jaka and the others
arrested have denied the charges during their arraignment hearings.
While many praised the arrest as a good move, others have warned they have been
selective - and perhaps carried out to serve the interests of one side or the
other in the dispute between the government and the prosecutor-general.
Although analysts are divided whether the government or the prosecutor-general
is to blame for the current situation, they agree that the country has to tackle
its pervasive corruption problem,
and the ongoing conflict is not helping.
The head of the PDK, Nard Ndoka, who is the Minister of Health, has complained
that the arrests have been politically motivated.
Political analyst Mentor Nazarko suspects a political agenda behind the arrests.
"Starting from some elements that characterized these arrests, like the
political party that most of them belong to, it's clear there is a kind of
political selectivity in the process", Nazarko says.
Political analyst Henri Cili is of the opinion that the arrests have an
underlying political significance. He points out that the government came to
power by adopting as its main goal the fight against corruption, and now it is
time to show some evidence that it is taking action.
Cili argues that the best way for the government to demonstrate that it is
taking the fight against graft seriously is to start from within its own ranks.
Berisha's government has been wary of targeting prominent politicians from the
previous, Socialist-led administration, fearing that this would be portrayed as
part of a political vendetta.
Berisha was severely criticized at home and abroad during his presidency in the
1990s, not least because the Socialist opposition leader and ex-Prime Minister,
Fatos Nano, had been put behind bars on charges of embezzlement.
In today's very different conditions, Cili doubts that the fight against
corruption will gather momentum, because of a lack of agreement among the
coalition parties inside the administration.
"There have always been arrests of deputy ministers in Albania. The
government could not advance any further before the election of the president
[in July 2007], because of the fragility of the coalition."
Resignations light up a corrupt landscape
There have been resignations, even if not Sollaku's - yet. Albania's Justice
Minister, Ilir Rusmajli, resigned on November 14 a day after being accused of
corrupt practices by the Director General of the country's prison service.
Rusmajli described his resignation as a "moral act" after Prisons
Director Sajmir Shehri accused Rusmajli of exerting unlawful pressure in an
effort to have a construction tender awarded to Rusmajli's brother."I am
leaving to make space for an investigation into this matter by the Prosecutor's
Office, wanting to give an example of a responsible official," Rusmajli
said.
Shehri, who also submitted his resignation to the Prime Minister on November 13,
presented a tape during a press conference in which allegedly Rusmalji's brother
tries to influence a high-ranking official of the prison system to award a
tender worth 1.8 million Euros to a company he was connected to. Shehri alleged
that when the tender was not awarded to the company favoured by the minister's
brother, Rusmajli continuously pressured Prime Minister Sali Berisha to sack
Shehri.
Rusmalji denies the accusation and accuses the Prisons Director of entrapping
members of his family. "I have requested the dismissal of the Prisons
Director, not because of any tender, but because of a series of unlawful
releases of certain dangerous prisoners," he said.
Resignations come after Berisha acted
A parliamentary commission controlled by the Democratic Party of Prime Minister
Berisha had initiated a fresh procedure in early November to remove Sollaku from
office. His net did not ensnare the whale - but at least it got a few minnows.
The latest move by Berisha comes after recent arrests on charges of corruption
of several of high-ranking officials initiated by the general prosecutor. Most
of the officials arrested were members of the PDK, a minor partner in the
coalition, headed by Berisha's Democratic Party, PD.
While the government and the prosecutor continue the battle that has lasted for
two years now, most observers criticise both sides saying their moves have been
politically motivated. They also say the ongoing conflict between Berisha and
Sollaku, is a serious setback for efforts to curb graft.
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