Culture Minister Sacked On Sexual Harassment

TIRANA, March 5 – Unlike the previous times of the government reshuffle, this time Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha sacked his culture minister Wednesday after a report at a local media outlet accused the minister of sexually harassing a woman looking for a job.
Private Top Channel TV showed footage and an audio recording of what it said was Culture, Youth, Tourism and Sports Minister Ylli Pango asking the woman to strip, allegedly to see whether she would do so for the job. The incident allegedly occurred in Pango’s Tirana home last month.
Berisha immediately dismissed Pango, a 56-year-old professor of psychology, only minutes after the TV show.
“The incident shown in the media was ethically unacceptable … and Prime Minister Berisha decided to fire (Pango),” a statement from Berisha’s press office said.
Pango could not be reached, but Berisha’s statement said Pango rejected the allegation as “a media fabrication.”
The next day Berisha nominated Ardian Turku to replace Pango. Turku, vice rector of the university in Elbasan, and also head of the district council, former Mayor of the city, will lead the ministry for the remaining months until Albania holds parliamentary elections June 28.
The Pango ‘scandal’ heated up the political fight that has never lacked the heat.
It was the last of the Berisha executive in less than a year starting with the Gerdec blast last March which killed 26 people and injured more than 300 others.
That case is still ongoing, this time, besides the political ever squabbling, at the judiciary where the prosecutors have accused 28 persons, including former Defense Minister, top military and owner of the private disposal company, of abuse of post and murder.
To continue with the trial case and investigation of the Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha for the Rreshen-Kalimash road segment project. Basha is accused of breaking the laws and abusing with his post when he served as transport minister when the contract was linked three years ago.
The country was also focused for some time in the alleged abuse of the friendship that a Bosnian-British businessman, Damir Fazlic, had done with Berisha’s family to buy land and suspiciously transferring money to use for practically non-existent businesses in the country. He is also under investigation.
The Jale Beach project funded from the World Bank and applied from the government was the next issue. The World Bank acknowledged it had committed mistakes in the project, starting with the acceptation of the nomination of Berisha’s son-in-law to run the project in the country. The government pulled down a dozen houses at the beach allegedly due to the bank’s project.
The government is also involved in ‘fights’ first with a local newspaper, TemA, and then with the Marubi multimedia film academy which it has moved out of their offices, for different reasons.
And last but not least the alleged sexual harassment from a cabinet member, starting with abuse of post when he interviews job seekers at his ministry to continue with the harassment at his home.
At a time when Albania hopes to become a full NATO member country next month and when the government insists it will apply for the candidate status to the European Union, two steps that could be really considered as victorious from the executive, that was really not needed for the prime minister ahead of the elections.
The opposition finds it as a good tool in the political fight. Opposition lawmakers said Thursday at the parliament that Pango should also be stripped of his parliamentary immunity and be penally processed for the alleged crime.
In all this hectic political developing situation Europe has made it very clear that Albania’s number one priority at the moment remains to hold really free and fair elections, in line with international democratic standards.