Mayor, coffee, tiger and coded messages

Në Tiranë në këto orë nuk flitet për asgjë tjetër, duke pritur të lexojmë mesazhe të tjera të koduara që vijnë si nga prokurorët, ashtu edhe nga të pandehurit.

2024-12-06 18:16:00, Politikë CNA

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It was the month of April when Erion Veliaj stated that he had a coffee with some colleagues, at the end of a whole day answering the questions of two SPAK Prosecutors about the Tirana Incinerator case.

The mayor of Tirana came out of the questioning with threatening tones, addressed above all to the journalists who had not been friendly towards him, blacklisting them.

He also said that he had cooperated with his SPAK "colleagues" and that he was calm about the continuation of the investigations.

The "colleagues" take the mayor to flight, who runs away in fear
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The thief of socialists in front of "colleagues"
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SPAK's "colleagues" put Erion Veliaj to work
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But this morning, the policemen of the National Bureau of Investigation knocked on the door of his apartment, in his wife's art gallery, where they seized her phone and it is said that they may have also knocked on the door of the mayor's brother ( which directs the distribution of advertising contracts to non-blacklisted media outlets).

In the afternoon, the anti-corruption magistrates of the Special Prosecutor's Office issued a statement where they announced that they have opened an investigation for Veliaj's family members as part of a criminal proceeding.

"Given that the investigation is still in the preliminary phase, we cannot publish data or further information at this moment," says the SPAK's brief statement to the media.

SPAK

Apparently, that long coffee in April between "colleagues" had not satisfied SPAK investigators.

But in Albania, a bit like in Palermo, to understand what is really happening, you have to go beyond the official press releases and know how to read the signals, the things left unsaid.

The mayor of Tirana is on an official visit to Hamburg for two days, as a guest of his German counterpart. The policemen sent to his house could not fail to know that Veliaj would not be at home. Why, then, did they go knocking at his door? Let's assume it's a message to the mayor: if you come back here we'll arrest you.

And Veliaj seems to have taken it and understood it, since on his Facebook profile he posts an image of a tiger from the Tirana Zoo. Everyone knows that Tigri was the pseudonym of Deputy Prime Minister Arben Ahmetaj, accused of bribing incinerators, who fled the country after speaking with investigators. So Veliaj's answer seems to be: I will speak and I can stay abroad.

Erion Veliaj

Although many media (those included in the clean list of the mayor and his brother) have tried to hide the news by placing it at the end, or after the others, until the late hours of the day, today in Albania there is no talk of anything other.

Hypotheses have been circulating for several days about a judicial offensive that should hit both the political circles of the government and the opposition and that is probably in its beginnings. The possibility of a new candidate for prime minister from the ranks of the Democratic Party, ready to appear on the political stage after various failures, starting with Basha, is also circulating.

Lulzim Basha

A project for the revolution of the Albanian political system born by the Biden administration, but which would most likely not be hindered by the arrival of Donald Trump at the head of the USA.

In Tirana at these hours there is no talk of anything else, waiting to read other coded messages coming from both the prosecutors and the defendants.

And, waiting for the handcuffs to be released, we ask ourselves: whose turn is it now? / Albanian Post