Politicians spar over alleged links between Edi Rama and criminals

TIRANA, April 30 – Spokesmen for Albania’s two main political parties hurled charges of criminal behavior and threatened law suits on Sunday, sparking a heightened level of squabbling in the national political arena.
Gerti Bogdani of the ruling Democratic Party accused opposition Socialist leader Edi Rama and parliamentarian Erjon Brace of being the political tool of the criminal groups known in the country as Hakmarrja per Drejtesi (Revenge for Justice) and of the Aldo Bare gang.
Bogdani based his party’s accusation on a phone tapping of Brae gang members recently published by an Albanian newspaper. He said the transcript of the phone conversations published by the Gazeta Shqiptare newspaper showed that Rama was directly linked to European criminal networks and Rama’s alleged criminal links constituted a threat to the country’s integration efforts into international institutions.
Bogdani was also supported on Sunday by the Democratic MP Ferdinand Xhaferri who said that the tapping confirmed the accusation made by their leader and Prime Minister Sali Berisha who said Rama was ‘caught’ by criminal organizations.
Saimir Tahiri, spokesman of the opposition Socialist Party, counterattacked saying he would sue Bogdani and Xhaferri for their accusations. He said that anyone who would make such claims purely to gain political advantage would face justice for defaming Rama.