Scandal, MPs steal phone money, no reaction from institutions

In a breakdown of information, data collection, CNA easily discovered that members of the Albanian parliament are paid between 4-5.5 million old lekë, i.e. between 4 thousand and 5,500 or 6,000 euros per month, and within this total salary, which includes per diems, bonuses, participation in committees, etc., there is also a telephone payment.

A payment that amounts to around 170 thousand lek per month. We observed and extracted the offers of the two main mobile companies in Albania, One and Vodafone, and in a simple reading of the offers they have online, we are not talking about the business offers that are even more favorable, it turns out that how much and for what our deputies use them, the payments made by parliament and the consumption that deputies make and what comes from the offers are three times higher.

So, with about 5-6 thousand new lek, the deputies would secure spectacular, simple packages, offers that have unlimited roaming, incoming and outgoing calls, internet, etc., while receiving three times the payment, which is an open theft. A threefold payment that costs tens of millions of lek per year and hundreds of millions of lek for a mandate.

And, the offers continue, the costs of telephone expenses are reduced for all citizens, while for MPs they continue to remain high.

We brought a complete material while waiting for the reaction of the Assembly on these fees, as we will not be satisfied with that, leaving this monthly theft simply as a denunciation, but we will bring it several times, we will publish it until there is a reaction and a responsible structure of the Assembly takes action to cut this type of expense that may seem small compared to others, but has a great weight.

Packages from telephone companies

Packages from telephone companies

It's a fairly large budget that could go to many other things and there's no need to steal it and go into the pockets of MPs to eat lunch, maybe there's very little, but an expensive bottle of wine drunk by an MP, which is stolen from the payments made for the phone.

So, the MP is given 170 thousand lek to pay for the phone, while his bill comes to 20-40 or 50 thousand lek and he puts the rest of the money in his pocket, completely unfair. The Parliament can pay the MP for phone expenses up to a limit, up to 5-6 thousand new lek, according to the maximum offers given by the mobile companies and everything else more or less is paid by each party.

So, if the phone bill is 3 thousand new lek and he has to pay 17 thousand lek, that money is kept by the Assembly budget and does not go to the respective MP.

If the limit is 5 thousand lek and the phone costs 8 thousand lek, the MP pays the difference out of his own pocket, since they don't use phones only for the people's problems, but they also use them for their own pleasures and for their family or for other work.

That's why we have brought this concern, which is actually worth tens and tens of millions of lek that, if collected in one season, would greatly benefit the Assembly's budget to do much better things than stealing MPs and using them for their own pleasures./ CNA

Illustrative photo

CNA published data showing that Albanians pay between 4-5.5 million lek for a member of the Albanian Parliament for telephone services, per diems, fuel, commissions, etc.

One of the details that actually caught our attention and we decided to look into it further was the fact that Albanians pay 170 thousand old lek for a deputy's telephone services.

The question arises, why and for what do they have to pay 170 thousand lek for the phone?

From the data and sources obtained by CNA from mobile companies, some of them do not even reach the quota of 50 thousand old lekë.

So, if they were to take the packages offered by telephone companies, which go for a maximum of about 60 thousand old lek, from which they would benefit from internet, roaming, although in the Western Balkans it has already become "free" when moving and with the maximum package offered to businesses 40 GB of internet that many MPs do not use, although they can also watch cartoons, but others who move abroad cannot spend more than 20 GB of internet or have 24-hour roaming, etc., the costs of which are a maximum of 50-60 thousand old lek.

This part of the difference for most MPs, according to official data provided by CNA, is stolen because their phone bills do not cover the amount of 170 thousand lek.

There are many times fewer, this is due to the prices that have been reduced and the tariffs that companies have.

Packages from telephone companies

Packages from telephone companies

In the Assembly, 140 deputies are paid from citizens' taxes for telephone services worth 170 thousand old lek for each of them.

In a simple calculation, Albanians pay 24 million lek per month for the telephone services of members of the Albanian Parliament.

Meanwhile, they pay about 300 million lek per year.  So, Albanians pay about 300 thousand euros per year for MPs' phones.

Meanwhile, more than half of this value is stolen. A clear and obvious theft because the tariffs and offers that the telephone companies have, which, as we mentioned above, with 5-6 thousand new lekë had solved the problem.

If this fee were reduced and payments for MPs were made somewhere around 6 thousand lek, it would go from 24 million to 8.4 million lek, and the total annual expenditure would be around 100 thousand euros.

So, almost 200 thousand euros would be saved per year. That's approximately 1 million euros in four years that would be saved just by stopping the theft that deputies commit with the amount of lek they receive due to their duties as deputies for telephone payments.

Today, with packages of 5 or 6 thousand new lek, everything is solved. Meanwhile, our MPs receive 170 thousand lek for their phones.

There are many other things that can be discussed, but this is the most essential.

Not to mention these famous committee meetings that are fictitiously signed, where they go and where they don't go, or the per diems they receive, etc., which make our MPs have the highest salaries in Europe./ CNA

The Albanian Parliament has spent a significant amount to cover the salaries or other benefits of its members of Parliament.

CNA is bringing a figure about how much a member of Parliament costs Albanian citizens.

According to data, while a member of Parliament has a salary of around 3,100 euros, Albanian citizens pay for their expenses as follows:

-For telephone services, about 170 thousand lek ,

-About 75,000 lek for per diems,

-For commissions, 20 thousand old lek , for meetings of 5-20 such, the maximum value of which is about 40,000 lek 

So, for those committees that we see as doing some great work.

-They receive payments for fuel of around 30 thousand lekë ,

-They receive about 75 thousand lek for their diet.

So, here we are talking about a deputy who receives about 5 million lek gross and about 4 million lek net.

These are for Tirana district deputies because district deputies receive additional money not only for fuel, but also for hotel or rent in their electoral areas.

And, adding this part, a deputy costs Albanians from about 4 to about 5.5 million old lekë./ CNA