The defense of Ilir Meta, President of the Freedom Party, before the Court of Appeal against Corruption and Organized Crime, who has requested his release, includes a series of legal and political arguments aimed at securing his freedom from possible charges, as well as protecting his dignity and that of the party he leads.
The defense of the President of the Freedom Party, Mr. Ilir Meta before the Court:
Madam Judge, put an end to this prejudicial behavior towards the former President of the Republic!
The height of the irresponsibility of SPAK and especially of my accuser in SPAK for the CEZ-DIA case, the convicted by the court for domestic violence, Romeo Kara, as well as the main witness, as SPAK refers to, Elvis Mataj, who was Kastriot Ismailaj’s right-hand man in the management of DIA and denounced by him to the prosecutor’s office for theft and fraud, is exactly this paragraph written by SPAK himself on page 34, first paragraph:
“From the statements of citizen Romeo Kara, it has emerged that in conversations with citizen Elvis Mataj, the latter told him that Kastriot Ismailaj sent a significant amount of money to Ilir Meta’s house with Elvi’s bag, which Elvis Mataj did not accept to be true in his statement “.
So, in such a concise paragraph written by SPAK, either the accuser sponsored by the Government and SPAK to register this case deceives, or the witness sponsored by the Government and SPAK to slander me, tells lies.
But in order to be serious, unlike SPAK, these two people mentioned above both tell lies from the beginning to the end about my person for the political purposes of the regime and for their own economic purposes.
Both have been close collaborators of Kastriot Ismaili in the management of DIA and after entered into conflicts with him over money matters, they were used by Damian Gjiknuri as Minister of Energy, as witnesses in the Vienna Arbitration against Kastriot Ismaili.
On this occasion, Romeo Kara was awarded a job in state-owned company operating in the energy sector, while Elvis was acquitted by the court, as was his wife, who was also accused of fraud and had direct interests with CEZ.
Romeo Kara is the same person who, in the judicial process where Kastriot Ismailaj was convicted, never mentioned my name as being connected to DIA or Kastriot Ismaili.
Even in his testimony under oath, when he recalls how Kastriot Ismailaj offered him a job to work at the DIA, to Romeo’s question whether he was connected to politicians, Kastriot answered that “no, he was connected to the Americans for DIA”.
The fact that Mr. Ismaili was connected to the Americans in this business is proven in Mr. Josef Hejsek’s statements at the Court of Arbitration in Vienna. Especially in chapter IV “Shareholders of DIA”.
Thus, the involvement of his American partners in this business, from the beginning, is also confirmed in the Court of Arbitration in Vienna, quite different from what SPAK tries to manipulate, as a business of Kastriot Ismaili and Arjan Laçi.
This was confirmed by his ex-wife Vojsava Ismaili, mentioning his partner in all businesses, the American citizen Rebecca Gaskin.
As for Elvis Mataj, I can say that I have never met him since 2005, when the youth organization of LSI expelled him from their ranks as a deceiver and intimidator of women, which I also stated in SPAK.
Likewise, in an attempt to create the idea that Kastriot Ismaili was gaining great support from the then Minister of Energy and Economy, Ilir Meta, SPAK contradicts itself when it gives him a role that Kastriot Ismaili never had, allegedly, as a member of the Council Supervisor from METE (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy) or a replacement candidate of such a Council.
On page 15, SPAK writes that on September 15: “according to the minutes of the meeting, it is written that ‘The meeting was opened by Mr. Hejsek, who informed the members of the Supervisory Council (“Members”) about the latest change of the Minister of Economy, Trade and of Energy, apologized for Mr. Ciko’s absence at the Supervisory Council meeting and briefly introduced Mr. Kastriot Ismailaj, who is the candidate of the ministry for the replacement of Mr. Ciko in the Supervisory Council”.
Meanwhile, I entered the Minister’s office after September 16, when the Assembly approved the decree for the appointment.
Just a few lines later, SPAK itself refutes this untruth when it writes that: “On 25.11.2010, the meeting of the Supervisory Council of OSHE sh.a. was held, where according to the minutes kept, it turns out that the members participated in the meeting of the Council, where Ilir Ciko is also present.”
So Ilir Ciko was not dismissed from the Supervisory Council and even more so, he could not be replaced by a private person like Kastriot Ismailaj.
The appointment of each member in the Supervisory Councils was made by an official act by the Minister and not by extracts of minutes of meeting that SPAK likes to refer to only for political and speculative reasons.
I want to emphasize the fact that SPAK itself writes on page 25 regarding Mr. Ilir Ciko’s statement during his visit to Prague, that: “During the time that Ilir Ciko was present at the meetings, there was no discussion about the agreement of CEZ Shpërndarje with the company DIA, for debt collection”.
In its manipulative efforts, SPAK insinuates that after my visit to Prague, which ended on December 2, five days later, on December 7th, the amount of ALL 69,102,000 lek was transferred from CEZ to the account of DIA, in the Veneto Bank, with the description ” partial liquidation, invoice N23 dated December 3″.
SPAK knows very well that on December 7, 2010, it was the ERE meeting that decided on the energy price.
In all the testimonies of the people sponsored by SPAK, who were close associates of Kastriot Ismaili at DIA such as Elvis Mataj, Romeo Kara or his wife, SPAK has the denunciation or information that DIA would give 500,000 Euros to the Board of ERE, to favor for the price of energy, CEZ.
But SPAK is not interested in this data because the target of SPAK is only the political opponent of the regime, Ilir Metaj.
Meanwhile, there are two facts that are deliberately overlooked in the file, which I pointed out to SPAK during the interrogation.
First, ERE was an independent institution from the Government and had no dependence on the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy (METE).
Secondly, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy, headed by Ilir Meta, and the Government opposed the ERE decision taken on December 7, 2010.
KESH with sole owner (100% of shares) Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy (METE) with letter 8276/1 on 20.12.2010 has asked ERE to review decision No. 97, dated 7.12.2020 “On determining the tariff of electricity for the public wholesale supplier for the period January 1 to December 31, 2011”.
After ERE rejected KESH’s request, then KESH appealed ERE’s decision to the Court of First Instance and then to the Court of Appeal, which rejected KESH’s request.
This clash between the Government and ERE then led to the resignation of the President of ERE.
The General Director of KESH, in addition to being a professional, I must emphasize, as I stated to SPAK, was also an exponent of LSI.
Let’s not forget what Hejsek points out in his testimony in the Court of Arbitration, in paragraph 10, that when he arrived in Tirana, Ambassador Tepshi introduced him to Kastriot Ismailaj and then the first meeting organized by Kastriot Ismailaj for Mr. Hejsek was exactly with the President of ERE and his main advisor.
At the same time, as proven by the Court of Arbitration in Vienna, the brother of this main advisor to the President of ERE, the former Prime Minister, was the beneficiary of DIA funds, and SPAK knows this very well.
This was misused by SOROS-funded BIRN to spread the fake news that this former Prime Minister was Ilir Meta.
Then “Clifford Chance”, the legal company that defended the Albanian state in the Court of Arbitration in Vienna, made an official statement excluding my person as implicated and beneficiary of DIA.
At the same time, SPAK has proven with documents and papers the strong connection of Kastriot Ismailaj with the main adviser of the President of ERE,
even to the point of partnership in a joint company.
But all these facts and connections are ignored by SPAK that the only target that should definitely be suspected and accused is Ilir Meta, when the evidence speaks quite differently.
SPAK deliberately lies even when it says that Arjan Laçi was a supporter of LSI and even its financier, when this is not true at all.
To supposedly make my connection with Arjan Laçi even stronger, SPAK, through manipulations, deliberately states that the origin of Arjan Laçi is also from Skrapari, (alluding kinship with me) which is a deliberate manipulation (on page 27).
Meanwhile, Arjan Laçi and his ancestors have been living in Durres for the last 200 years, of orthodox belief originating from Greece.
Nowhere does SPAK mention the American business partner of Kastriot Ismaili, as well in DIA, Rebecca Gaskin, even though there are all the facts regarding her involvement in this business from the beginning, including the statements made by Hejsek at the Court of Arbitration in Vienna.
The SPAK makes the same intentional manipulation in the insinuations it makes about my relations with Agron Çela, who according to them, has indirectly benefited from DIA, through a certain company, a certain amount of money by relating it to his candidacy as a LSI deputy in the 2013 elections.
The time gap of this benefit claimed by SPAK for the company associated with Agron Çela, on September 21, 2010, with the moment when he ran for as LSI candidate, which is more than two and a half years later, in June 2013, is deliberately not mentioned, while Mr. Çela has very clearly clarified this relationship and the fact that he has never financed LSI.
This whole platform of manipulations with alternation of circumstances and insinuation of fraud, is based on the statement of the former minister, Dritan Prifti, on 2.10.2015, who was at the service of Edi Rama for economic and political benefits.
All the persons used as witnesses, interviewees in the press as well as journalists covering this case, such as Artan Hoxha, were Prifti’s close connections and were set in action by him, by Damian Gjiknuri, as Minister of Energy and responsible for the wavering the obligation of CEZ to the Albanian budged in the amount of 600 million euros, together with Edi Rama.
How it can be believed that Prifti did not know that the agreement between CEZ and DIA was signed on September 1, 2010, when he was Minister of Economy?
Everyone knows that while Prifti was minister, even when a fly entered the Ministry, he would find out and impose the next “fine”. Moreover, the mentioned member of the Supervisory Council was his confidant.
Moreover, Prifti had a very close friendship with Kastriot Ismail since 1998-2000 when they worked together at the Ministry of Labor.
Everyone knows what his integrity was. The American expert who examined the clock he used for recording and wiretapping me, also found Prifti’s wiretapping with his Deputy Minister of Economy.
This was a videotaping which he had done in his house where Prifti had invited his deputy for dinner and where he received 70 thousand Euro, on which a criminal case was initiated.
As for the citizen Vojsava Ismaili, I feel deep regret for the difficulties she encountered after her husband’s imprisonment at that time, but also for her misuse by Dritan Prifti at the behest of Edi Rama, who imprisoned her husband for two purposes. First, for him to withdraw from the lawsuit against CEZ and secondly, to avoid attention from the affair that Rama and Gjiknuri did by waiving CEZ the obligation to pay about 600 million Euros to the Albanian budget.
I feel also deep regret and pity for the SPAK that lowers the level of the investigation in her ordinary and worthless interviews, such as the one dated 04.04.2018, that this citizen gave to a journalist named Fatos Mahmutaj.
SPAK proves its extremely unprofessional and politically instrumental attitude on page 24 where it refers to the journalist Fatos Mahmutaj, who was asked on 22.01.2024 about the circumstances of the interview of citizen Vojsava Ismaili, where he (Mahmutaj) stated that she had told him: “Now that Kastrioti is in prison, he continues to ask for money by exerting pressure. I don’t have money to pay these blackmails of Ilir Metaj, so I chose to run away for the safety of my son”.
This is completely absurd since it is publicly and institutionally known that I have taken maximum care of her security since September 2015 when the CEZ-DIA scandal was “invented” after BIRN’s writing, which is sponsored by SOROS and continues to this day.
Having all the information about the misuse that was making her position difficult, Dritan Prifti and other people on behalf of Edi Rama, and the risk of elimination she was facing by them, so that they could accuse me of being guilty of allegedly making a witness disappear, I asked the Chairman of the National Security Committee in the Assembly to write a letter to all the respective institutions to take care of her security.
At the same time, I have to clarify that not only I have never blackmailed her, nor have I tried to communicate with her, but even when she asked by SMS to meet me (the SMS was sent to my mobile phone and a content which was obviously oriented by others), I sent a letter to the General Prosecutor’s Office asking to sent her message, explaining the circumstances where she could be and asking them to take care of her safety, taking into account the danger of the people influencing her.
And I avoided any contact and communication with her.
After these actions of mine, also documented by the prosecuting body, she started giving interviews in the service of those who used her for their political purposes.
But let’s not forget what she said in the interview dated 12.02.2016 that “Katrioti’s (her husband’s) connection with CEZ in Prague were created thanks to his own connections and not through Albanian politicians”. And they don’t lie here.
In this interview, she says that Rebecca Gaskin was a collaborator with Kastriot in all businesses, including DIA.
Similarly, in this interview she says that: “In December 2014, Rebecca recognized the agreement made by the state for the withdrawal of DIA from the Arbitration”.
These statements are also true and provable, but SPAK was not interested in including them in the file since the lady in question is an American citizen and, to my knowledge, Kastriot Ismaili was introduced with CEZ in Prague due to her connections and experience in the Czech Republic. Her and other Americans’ connection with DIA is also confirmed by Mr. Josef Hejsek in his statement to the Court of Arbitration in Vienna.
In the same way, the pre-trial efforts of SPAK through various witnesses to prove my acquaintance with Kastriot Ismaili are absurd, since I have also stated in SPAK, but also publicly that my acquaintances with Kastriot Ismaili go a long time back, since in the early 90s, but he has never asked or benefited from me for anything and vice versa.
The frequency of our telephone conversations in the years ’95-’97, when I was in the opposition, is many times higher than that of the years 2010-2011, which SPAK refers to.
But SPAK is only interested in the manipulation of facts and circumstances to accuse Ilir Meta with every slander and invention and justify its behavior at any cost, as well as the extreme security measure with arrest in prison for Ilir Meta, who is the Chairman of the second opposition party, for the purpose of serving the goals of Edi Rama for the destruction of political pluralism and free and competitive elections in Albania, which are approaching.
In its attempts to implicate me as the intermediary between Kastriot Ismail and CEZ, SPAK refers speculatively and out of context to a statement of the Czech citizen Josef Hejsek given before the Vienna Arbitrazh, where he stated on 26 October 2014:
“We discussed these issues with representatives of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy of Albania (METE). The Albanian government proposed to guide someone with sound knowledge of the business world in Albania.
Mr. Tepshi, at that time the Ambassador of Albania in Prague, after discussions with his superior, the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mr. Ilir Meta), performed his role as an advisor to the Albanian Government in dealing with the management of international activities in Prague of CEZ sh.a. He recommended Mr. Kastriot Ismailaj as an external debt collector and introduced him as a close ally of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Prime Minister Berisha. This may have happened in the fall of 2009.”
Then Hejsek says that Mr. Tepshi introduced me to Mr. Kastriot Ismaili in Tirana.
In paragraph 10 after this, Hejsek says:
“Mr. Ismailaj presented himself as a specialist in debt collection and a connoisseur of Albanian business and politics. Together with Mr. Ismailaj, I also met Mr. Nepravishta, Chairman of ERE and his adviser, Petrit Ahmeti”.
Even here, before moving on to the conversation with Ambassador Tepshi, he emphasizes that we talked about these issues (that is, about debt collection) with the Minister of Economy, Trade and Energy (METE).
It is known that at this time I was not Minister of METE and I could not be involved in these matters that did not belong to me.
While three years before he made this statement at the Vienna Arbitration, Mr. Hejsek, interrogated by prosecutor Ndini Tavani, on December 20, 2011, would declare: “Thus, based on METE’s recommendations, we began to find a partner. This was always under the supervision of the Supervisory Board, where the Albanian state representative was always present, so the selection of DIA has always been transparent, with all the details known to METE.”
Prosecutor Ndini Tavani’s question that:
Do you remember the specific person who made the proposal for this company? Mr. Hejsek replies: “I don’t remember the specific person and some proposals were sent to Prague for consideration.”
So how is it explained that on December 20, 2011, Mr. Hejsek does not remember the specific person who made the proposal for DIA and Kastriot Ismaili, while three years later he did?
As a rule, memory weakens with age and does not get stronger, right?
It is clear that in the Court of Arbitration in Vienna to justify themselves and CEZ for the conflict that was created with DIA, both Hejsek and CEZ were interested in presenting Mr. Ismaili as recommended by the Albanian Government and not selected by themselves them because of their interests.
At the same time, on January 19, 2016, after speculations in the Albanian press regarding his statement in Vienna mentioning my name in brackets (Ilir Metaj), after the function of “the Minister of Foreign Affairs”, Mr. Hejsek made a clarifying statement to my Director of the Cabinet while I was Speaker of the Parliament, stating that I was not my name (Ilir Metaj) he refered to.
SPAK intentionally deceives when it wrote on page 14 that: “Investigations have proven that citizen Ilir Metaj was the one who suggested CEZ to choose a contractor for debt collection, namely citizen Kastriot Ismailaj.” This fact results from the testimony of the citizen Josef Hejsek given before the Court of Arbitration in Vienna.”
From the entire content of Hejsek’s statement at the Court of Arbitration in Vienna, it is clear that he attributes this introduction to the Albanian Ambassador, Mr. Tepshi, and also later testifies that together with Mr. Tepshi, they met Mr. Kastriot Ismailaj in Tirana, and likewise, in the first meeting that Mr. Ismailaj had with the President of ERE was present his main adviser, a fact which SPAK knows very well from the joint investigations with Kastriot Ismailaj.
Hejsek nowhere says that Kastriot Ismailaj was suggested or introduced to us by Ilir Metaj.
Likewise, to my knowledge, and I am certain, but it is well-known by the everyone in the Albanian Government, that our Ambassador in the Czech Republic has not been authorized, as Hejsek refers in this statement, as an advisor to the Albanian Government in charge of the management of international activities in Prague of CEZ holding company.
At the same time, there is no act, no document and no authorization from my side for the former Ambassador to prove such an instruction or responsibility.
It was and remains clear that relations with CEZ were maintained only through the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy (METE), which also had its member in the Supervisory Council.
Everything else is manipulation and not proof.
Even more absurd and shameful is SPAK’s claim of illegal actions of mine for interfering with a mining law.
On page 120, SPAK writes: “The illegal action of Monika Kryemadhi and Ilir Meta consists in the adoption of Law No. 134/2014 “On some additions and changes to Law No. 10304, dated July 15, 2010, ‘On the mining sector in the Republic of Albania’”, the illegal intervention in favor of Saimir Mane at the Bailiff’s Office and specifically, the bailiff Saimir Xhuglini, the illegal intervention of Monika Kryemadhi and Ilir Meta to the Chairman of AKEP, Piro Xhixho in favor of the company ‘Plus Communications’”.
Yes, on page 112, SPAK writes itself: “On July 8, 2014, MP Esmeralda Shkjau submitted to the Secretariat of the Assembly the amendments for two articles, article 19 and 27 of the draft law.”
At the end of the parliamentary procedure, Article 35 of Law No. 10304, dated July 15, 2010 “On the mining sector in the Republic of Albania”, was approved with the amendments of the deputy, Esmeralda Shkjau.
It is a known fact that this deputy was from SP and not LSI.
In the same way, 16 votes of LSI were not enough to approve these changes, but these amendments received all the votes of SP.
I don’t understand why I should be suspected in this case when my name as Ilir Metaj or Speaker of the Assembly does not exist in any communication that SPAK describes between MP Monika Kryemadhi, MP from Bulqiza, Përparim Spahiu, the other MP from Bulqiza, Ardit Kaja and representatives of the mining association that was interested in the law.
This is just a PREJUDICIAL suspicion.
Likewise, regarding the accusation of interference in the enforcement office in the interest of a businessman, my name does not exist either directly or indirectly in the communications referred to by SPAK.
So SPAK has only one political target, Ilir Metaj, who must stay at any price, pressure and manipulation in prison in conditions of extreme isolation, not only to make it difficult for him to defend himself in the face of these absurd suspicions without any evidence, but with the purpose to paralyze as much as possible his political activity as Chairman of the second opposition party in the country.
Another claim, not only tendentious but also biased by SPAK, is the one about my influence on the PLUS company.
On page 106, SPAK writes: “On April 18, 2014, Piro Xhixho informs Monika Kryemadhi about an SMS sent by a person named Duka, the full text of which he sends to Monika: “Piro, good evening! The tax-office of Tirana has blocked the restitution of VAT because of the debt we owe to AKEP. Surprisingly, on the same day, we received a discriminatory proposal from VF and a blackmail from R.B. Do you really need to bury this Plus this month?”
According to the declarant, Saimir Mane and Armando Duka went to Monika and asked her to intervene with Piro to solve the problems of the Plus company.
Saimir and Armando blamed Piro Xhixho and AKEP and, according to the declarant, they complained to Monika that he did not want to help them.
Piro Xhixho also informs Monika in the above email that with her mediation and that of the “boss”, which Piro refers to Ilir Metaj, it has become possible for all telephone companies to remain satisfied, where he mentions that Plus Company will have an asymmetric position in the market in terms of charging telephone calls with the value of ALL 6.52 and this without a deadline.
The message dated September 19, 2014, which he sent to Monika Kryemadhi, also mentions these problems, where he wrote that he had met “the great” with the two operators. Regarding this message, Piro Xhixho stated that perhaps the meeting was held with Prime Minister Rama, whom he refers to as “the great”.
I don’t understand what favor I have done to the only company in the field of mobile phones with 20 Albanian shareholders so that it is not discriminated against and about to go bankrupt due to the monopoly of two foreign companies?
It was my institutional duty as Speaker of the Parliament to take care of their complaints in accordance with the law, and AKEP, as an institution, was dependent on the Parliament.
I do not understand where my illegality lies when, after a claim by an Albanian company (with 20 shareholders) that they were being discriminated against and on the way towards bankruptcy, for which, according to them, AKEP was to blame, I forwarded this concern to the President of AKEP, so that Plus Company simply was not to be discriminated. My actions were in compliance with the law, and the intention was to increase competition, which was and is a public interest.
LOBBYING
Regarding the suspicions of my involvement in illegal lobbying activities, I distance myself with disgust from SPAK’s deliberate attempts, without any evidence, to implicate me through speculations, while it had all the time necessary to find if there existed any evidence incriminating me with criminal liability.
Criminal responsibility is individual.
Even now that I am in this courtroom, someone or several people may perform speculative actions without my knowledge and authorization somewhere, in violation of the laws.
It is certain that every action and decision of the LSI Chairmanship, authorization issued by myself has been lawful and transparent in compliance with Albanian and American laws.
As it is certain that a Greek-American citizen, attorney Fidetzis, had signed a contract with the McKeon Group without my knowledge, which was denounced by me to the President of this group and who then made an official letter to the Department of Justice (of which you can find attached) saying that after we met with the Speaker of the Parliament and Chairman of LSI, Mr. Meta, he informed us that the person who signed on behalf of LSI was not authorized by him and likewise the fields of cooperation are different. Therefore, we request that it be considered null and void.
Meanwhile, the payment of 15,000 USD in the account of this company was made in a transparent manner by the Chairmanship of LSI at the request of Mr. Vangjel Tavo, member of the Chairmanship and Member of Parliament, who was also the mediator who insisted on the meeting with Fidetzis in Athens at the end of November or in December 2016.
It was also Mr. Tavo who insisted in paying USD 15,000 to the McKeon Group based on the Greek-American lawyer’s promises that this company would be very influential.
But when we went to Washington for the inauguration of President Trump, for which the invitations were previously provided by the US Congress, I was surprised when I was informed by the President of the McKeon Group about the agreement that Fidetzis had signed on behalf of LSI, and I asked him that that agreement was to be annulled because it was not authorized by me and that the areas of cooperation we were interested in were different from those signed by Fidetzis.
The contacts with the McKeon Group company continued for some time, but an agreement was never finalized because they offered very expensive services that were not affordable by us.
As for the claim that an agreement was then made with the McKeon Group through “Dorelita” of Fidetzis, this is a scandalous fraud and manipulation.
I heard about the existence of “Dorelita” for the first time when “Mother Jones” published a sponsored article.
That Fidetzis was a fraud, I was convinced at the second meeting in Washington when I denounced him to the President of the McKeon Group.
I have never authorized this person to represent me to McKeon Group or anyone else, directly or indirectly.
Furthermore, I didn’t even have his phone number or email address and I wasn’t interested to contact him.
All contacts with him were kept only through Mr. Tavo, who was also the mediator of the meeting with him in Greece, in November or December 2016.
Similarly, in March-April 2017, I was not in the USA, I did not have meetings, nor was I interested because I was elected President on April 18.
I would like to point out that the manipulations of the CEZ-DIA and McKeon Group cases are personally dealt with by Charles McGonigal, former senior FBI official, in prison today.
In the same way, he also dealt with the case of the alleged assassination attempt against the MPs Doshi and Fufi at the request and order of the Prime Minister, the chief corruptor of the international officials, with the aim of eliminating the opposition and guaranteeing his impunity.
Therefore, it is no coincidence that the CEZ-DIA case, which was tried several times before and for which sentences were given, was reopened exactly in 2018 through an accuser like Romeo Kara.
It is not by chance that in 2018 an interview of Vojsava Ismaili was staged in exile with a journalist, Fatos Mahmutaj, and it is not by chance that this issue was taken over by Altin Dumani in December 2019 at the height of my conflict as President of the Republic with Prime Minister Rama and the McGonigals, in my striving to protect the Constitutional Court from being captured.
Regarding LSI’s relations with two other lobbying companies introduced by the Albanian-American, Adrian Shatku, every decision and authorization issued by me for these relations has been in extreme compliance with the Albanian and American laws.
If there are illegal actions by the above-stated person or anyone else, SPAK should bring them to criminal responsibility in Albania or the USA, in cooperation with American justice.
I want to clarify that I have never benefited from this person except for the acquaintance we had because of his origins from Dibra region and the friendships he had with members of my family for this reason.
As I have stated in SPAK since a long time ago, I had doubted his seriousness and cooled my relations with him, and for this I had warned my relatives, but also my colleagues, who had close contacts with him.
Regarding allegations of non-disclosures of expenses, I consider them completely tendentious.
First, I cannot be held responsible for any expenses or reductions in the accounts of my family members or even of my ex-wife and ex-mother-in-law.
Secondly, as I explained in SPAK, filling out the wealth and property declaration forms was handled by my ex-wife, who followed all the actions with a lawyer and a notary public, also for the reason that most of the properties and similarly the bank accounts were hers and she managed them.
I had full faith that she did everything according to the law.
I have never refused as an individual to make the declaration according to Article 5 of the ILDKPI (The High Inspectorate for the Declaration and Controlling the Properties).
Likewise, according to Article 22 of the ILDKPI, I am not responsible for the declaration of family members, and likewise, I have never had, according to Article 32, neither a notice nor a fine, neither from the ILDKPI nor from Tax authorities.
In conclusion, Madam Judge, after these explanations I gave you, I ask you to respect the Constitution, the European Convention of Human Rights, the principle of presumption of innocence and a regular legal process for the future with today’s decision.
This scandalous investigation sponsored by the Government and the McGonigals, based on deception, manipulation and extreme bias, culminated in a gangland hijacking, as everyone has seen, by masked thugs, who forced their way into the car with heavy weapons, who did not identify themselves, who did not provide any paper or official document, who did not allow me to contact the lawyer, who did not read me my rights and who forcefully put me in a private car to be taken to the Police Directorate, where only after two hours the officers of the Judicial Police come, must end.
I have never refused SPAK’s invitations.
I have no position, no opportunity to compromise the evidence, because there is no evidence except interviews and insinuations.
I don’t even imagine to escape and if there is such a concern you can decide to withhold my passport.
But I am a former President, a status I still enjoy legally, and President of the second largest opposition Party in the country, and the third largest Party for the last 20 years.
Therefore, you must allow me, based on the American experience, to exercise my obligations towards those citizens who elected me to lead and who pay taxes so that you can give justice and not be under the dictates of SPAK, as Mr. Dumani has declared publicly for the courts.
Any decision under dictation would not only aggravate the irregularities of this process but also undermine the principles of the rule of law.
This pre-judicial behavior so far (by SPAK and the Police) must end and this process of investigation and trial must be placed on the tracks of the regular legal process in respect of the principle of presumption of innocence.
/Argumentum.al
