Corruption/ Veliaj's alibis, copy of Edi Rama's acquittals

2024-04-06 18:00:00, Aktualitet CNA

Corruption/ Veliaj's alibis, copy of Edi Rama's acquittals

Edi Rama and Erion Veliaj

Since Erjon Veliaj's fatherhood and directorship with Tirana municipality taxes came to light, Prime Minister Edi Rama has spoken today for the first time, putting an end to conspiracy theories about a breakdown in the relationship between him and Veliaj.

Rama said that he agreed "with a full stop" with the position that Erjon Veliaj took today and that "the guilt was not collective", confirming the position that he will not interfere with SPAK and the new justice.

Meanwhile, Veliaj, in the message he distributed on Saturday morning, copied Rama's alibis for corruption in the government point by point, drawing parallels between his position today and Rama's in the incinerator and sterilization scandals.

First, Veliaj, like Rama, defended the product and the results of the work of the arrested, despite the theft

Many people remember how at the height of the discussion about the theft with the incinerators by Klod Mërtiri and Klodian Zoto, Prime Minister Edi Rama took out two comparative photos. On the left was a garbage field with the DP logo, while on the right was a park with trees in the landfill with the SP logo.

Although the theft with the incinerators was terrifying, Rama defended to the end the product of the corrupt project, which was the purification of the cities.

Prime Minister Rama defended with the same form the sterilization PPP, for which SPAK says there are abuses of over 100 million euros. Rama went to the hospital and showed the camera a pair of rusty forceps, like the tools that doctors once used in surgery. Meanwhile, the SPAK file contained data that showed that Ilir Beqaj and his people had misused their duties during the PPP procedures worth over 100 million euros.

Like Rama, Erjon Veliaj praised the work of his thieving directors. Thanks to the work of Mariglen Qatos, he said, the New Boulevard, the liberation of the Ring at Astiri, the liberation of the Lake from occupation in half of it, the opening of the grounds in Kombinat and 5 Maji for the new neighborhoods after the earthquake have become possible.

Redi Molla, according to Veliaj, turned UKT from a bankrupt company into the only water supply company with a positive balance in the country and that returned small Tirana from 7 hours of water a day.

While Taulant Tusha managed public works in the Municipality of Tirana until last year, emphasizes Veliaj, where he followed projects 24/7, from Skënderbej Square, to the New Market, from Zogu I Boulevard, to Unaza e Vogël, from the Castle of Tirana in the center, to that of Petrela in the suburbs, from the extension of Lana, to the River of Tirana.

So in short, these people stole, but they also worked.

Secondly, Veliaj said that, like Rama, he knew nothing about those who eat "pears and apples behind their backs"

For people who eat apples and pears and tangerines behind his back, Prime Minister Rama has spoken about every time an associate of his has had problems with justice. Even when the Italian prosecution brought evidence of Saimir Tahir's involvement in drug trafficking, even when the exploits of Elvis Roshi in his youth came out, even when Lefter Koka's bribes came out, even when SPAK discovered Arben Ahmetaj's assets, Rama has always been the defendant and said he didn't know anything.

Like Veliaj today, he said that while Rama did not know anything about his deputy in the prime ministership, he also did not know anything about his directors who rigged the tenders of the municipality.

"How is it possible that Edi Rama did not know this and how could it happen that, even his deputy, a person who is wanted by justice today, did these great crimes for which he is accused, without the blessing of the prime minister?

Excuse me! But why, in which part of his function determined by the Constitution and legal provisions, should the prime minister intercept his deputy or any other official, with whom the work connects him, when the latter exercise the influence of the position and use the connections theirs with X or Y, to profit illegally?!

How can it be so indisputable that a prime minister, or in my case, a mayor, is aware of everything that has nothing to do with his function defined by law or with the objectives of a thousand of a daily problem of his work?!"

Thirdly, Veliaj repeats that he is not at the top of the pyramid, but Edi Rama

In the attempt to remove the responsibility from himself, Veliaj does not fail to repeat a statement that others have said before him. When talking about accountability and holding responsibilities, the first to answer is Edi Rama, as chairman of the Socialist Party and as prime minister.

Therefore, while talking about corruption and the prosecutor, between the lines, Veliaj does not forget to say that "the climax here for us is what is happening today in Albania, it started precisely from the vision, the project and the state-building will of Edi Rama, our prime minister, and Socialist Party, without whom SPAK would not even exist and this fight against corruption would not even be imagined".

Veliaj mentioned Prime Minister Rama 8 times in his public apology and the head of the government did not disappoint him. A few hours after Veliaj's message, Rama came out with a stance that exonerates the mayor, saying that what happened in the municipality is some evidence that SP does not control SPAK.

"Today is again the occasion to say out loud that our support for SPAK is not propaganda, but iron political will; our stance without comment, every time SPAK strikes within the structures of the executive at any level, is not cowering, nor fear, but an exemplary expression of the red line between us, the party that governs and leads the Reform in Justice and the New Justice that has all our support; SPAK's strikes against anyone in the ranks of the executive, at any level of government, who has violated the law and betrayed our mission in the service of this country and this people, we do not experience them as horrors, nor as collective guilt, but as an invaluable help in a fight against corruption, which until yesterday we could not do as much and as it should, precisely because the arm of independent justice was missing.

So even this most recent issue of some former officials and officials of the municipality of Tirana, and Erion's right attitude today, with which I wholeheartedly agree, prove once again that we neither control SPAK, nor we intend to change the strongly supportive approach to SPAK, nor do we comment anything regarding the veracity of SPAK's accusations, for anyone that SPAK takes as defendants, nor do we have anything to do with the opinions of the political and media segments, which produces mud and poison every day in parliamentary sessions, television shows and digital channels, where all kinds of spawns of the dark inquisitorial mindset, make us trials like those of communism, trying to put us all in every bag of corruption that opens from SPAK" wrote Rama.

THE FULL WORD PUBLISHED BY VELIAJ ON THE THEFT WITH MUNICIPAL TENDERS

Hello to everyone!

I am here in front of you, after I have seen, just like you, and heard, just like you, what has happened to several directors and former directors of the Municipality of Tirana, and after having also gone through a small personal health vicissitude, for which thank you for your care.

I have tried to understand, as much as I could, how the events that led to the raising of accusations against these officials of the institution that I lead took place.

I am starting from the red line of the Socialist Party and Prime Minister Rama: The issues that the new law opens, with anyone and anywhere, at any level of executive and administrative responsibilities, are not to be commented on in their legal aspect, but they are simply to be entrusted to the justice bodies. Any individual involved in these matters must face justice on their own, stripped of any protection other than the legal protection of their own lawyers.

So, I have no comment on the veracity of the accusations, on the degree of involvement or not of each of them in the illegal activity they are accused of, on their guilt or innocence, which is exclusively a matter for the court, the level of respect for the right human and constitutional presumption of innocence in their detention, and so on.

This red line makes it impossible for me to enter into a debate about the facts, with those who use the freedom of speech in the media to become the prosecutor, the modern insurance or the medieval inquisitor, including me among those convicted without a trial, as far as happened or didn't happen.

But, if for the facts it is impossible for me to enter the debate because I would violate the principle of non-interference in a matter of justice, for my share of responsibility and for the role I have with the blessing of the citizens of Tirana, it is impossible for me not to express myself .

Yes! There is no question that I have worked and cooperated with these people and as far as I am concerned, I have evaluated their work based on the results, which speak for themselves in every corner of the city, for anyone who will refer to the real achievements in the sectors they have run, during the time they worked in the Municipality of Tirana.

Mariglen Qato led the IMT from September 2018 to September 2023. Thanks to his work and that team, the New Boulevard, the liberation of the Ring at Astiri, the liberation of the Lake from encroachments on half of it, the opening of the grounds in Kombinat and 5 Maji for the new neighborhoods after the earthquake. As we walk today on those boulevards, by the Lake, or along the Great Ring Road, we realize how useful work they were for the city, but also how many political opponents were opposed to IMT because they had linked their careers to the blocking of these construction sites and sabotage of Tirana.

Redi Molla led the UKT in the years 2016-2020, where he turned a bankrupt company into the only water supply company with a positive balance in the country, which today is financed directly by international development banks and which returned small Tirana from 7 hours of water per day, where corn was irrigated and neighborhoods dried, in a city 25 times larger in area, with 20 hours of water on average, and in most urban areas with 24 hours of water.

Taulant Tusha has managed public affairs in the Municipality of Tirana until last year. With extraordinary dedication, it has followed 24/7 projects that Tirana has been waiting for for a century - from Skënderbej Square, to the New Market, from Zogu I Boulevard, to the Small Ring, from the Castle of Tirana in the center, to that of Petrela in the suburbs, from the extension of Lana, to the River of Tirana, which overturned all units 4, 8, 9 and 11, to 101 renovated kindergartens and nurseries, and 40 new schools, from 'Kosova' and 'Samiu' , up to 'Partizani' and 'Çajupi', where every day 200 thousand children of the capital sit and grow in optimal conditions.

This was a brief overview of their work in the municipality and my work with them, before the hyenas who have not touched manual labor, grind their drooling teeth on their next prey.

Now there is a question, as brutal as it is banal, that is usually raised by medieval inquisitors, modern insurance and media prosecutors in television booths, whenever SPAKU acts against a certain official: How is it possible that Edi Rama did not know this and how can to happen that even his deputy, a person who is currently being sought by the justice system, does these great crimes for which he is accused, without the blessing of the prime minister?

Where are we? In communism? When Comrade Enver was behind a whole party and an entire army of spies, all state officials, up to the keyhole of their house, that today he wanted to be arrested and imprisoned by the political-media court, the incumbent of the institution, as soon as SPAK issues arrest warrants for one or several officials of the institution of several thousand people that he leads?!

I raise these rhetorical questions because in no normal democratic country, this witch hunt takes place. In parliaments, screens, portals, not even in the social networks of France, Italy, Greece and so on, you don't see these grape vines to burn alive Presidents, prime ministers, mayors, when justice is just doing its job in the war against corruption and where the courts, in the end, separate the alum from the ox, the guilty from the innocent!

These professional witch hunters, who have a mandate as a member of parliament with a lost seal or a tie of a moderator and analyst in the armchairs of political television shows every evening, but who have no respect for human dignity, for work, for facts, they want the people to forget this great truth.

Albanians have heard dozens, if not hundreds of times, from the mouth of our president, Edi Rama, that we want a fair justice, that strikes right and left and looks and walks only straight, with the sword of the law in hand! I know that for many people, politicians are people who say different things, think different things and do different things, but exactly why Edi Rama, our prime minister and chairman of the Socialist Party, and this party led by him, are different from this stereotype and Albania today is much different than 10 years ago, Tirana today is also different than 10 years ago, justice today is also different than 10 years ago!

On the other hand, the highlight here in our country is what is happening today in Albania, it started precisely from the vision, the project and the state-building will of Edi Rama, our prime minister, and the Socialist Party, without whom SPAK would not even exist and this fight against corruption could not even be imagined. It is a fight that we have sought, we are doing as much as we can, from the first day in these duties, with reforms, digital services, with measures for continuous improvements of administrative processes, but also audits and dismissals for employees who violate the rules or are denounced by citizens.

But the executive levels of government are neither the prosecutor's office nor the court, that's why we see justice as a strategic ally in this war and we unreservedly support its work, as a necessary work for cleaning our administrations from corrupt elements. Therefore, there is also a separation of powers and jobs in this system and therefore, the law charges prosecutors and judges to do a job that neither the prime minister, nor the ministers, nor the mayors, can do, nor are they allowed by law to do. do it.

Some fall short: But why, don't you hear a word about one or the other? Of course we hear words too. Even more than for everyone, for ourselves! But what should we do, except ask ourselves or others how true these words are! And with ourselves we know what is true or not, while with others how do we fully verify the truth of the words? Put people behind? Put eavesdroppers in their cars and homes? Shall we detain them in an office in the municipality or in the ministry, based on suspicion, and keep them there until they tell the truth?! Torture them? These are all unthinkable, not just criminal, in terms of democratic laws, which recognize the repressive power of the state as exclusive to police and judicial bodies, not to the holders of executive and political power!

Some others say: When you hear words, immediately remove them from work! Yes, if we were to follow this criterion, we would have to remove ourselves from work every day from all the rumors and words, and on the other hand, the dismissals of the heads of the administration are, as in every European country, also in Albania, a responsibility that the law does not there is no political holder! Well, jobs are separated, as are our public responsibilities and goals from the individual responsibility of each one before the law and from the dark personal goals of anyone who benefits in illegal ways, abusing the office, behind the back of the institution and those with whom the joint work connects.

Now, there is no doubt that it will not be good for me, if the accusations leveled against some former directors of the Tirana Municipality are proven true in court.

On the contrary, I am terribly sorry that, in addition to engaging in many good common works, some important officials of this municipality have engaged in dirty work for personal gain. But, pending the final word of justice for them, I myself have nothing to wait to look you all in the eye and tell you that no illegal personal gain has ever connected me with them and nor with anyone else in my position as the number one servant of our Tirana.

I may have made a lot of mistakes too! I have no doubt! Yes, I have never been guilty of using my firm, my word, my influence, for any kind of illegal personal gain. I hope that the investigations into the incinerator of Tirana, with which the only thing that connected me was the cleaning of this city, which is now exemplary in cleanliness, will prove this to the end, as well as the investigations into this matter recently opened by justice.

I fear breaking the norms I was brought up with in this town and I fear the law before I become a subject of its punishment, so I have never broken the law or the trust of those who have me given three times the mandate to run Tirana. Therefore, justice should continue its work, there is no need for me to tell it what it should do, while I will continue my work with the transformation team of Tirana, even more insistently for Tirana and for my fellow citizens , after this event that does not make me proud at all.

Thank you all for the support, encouragement and strength you give me every day!