TIRANA, Sept. 23 – The leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, Lulzim Basha, has made the harshest statement yet against the Socialist-led governing coalition, calling for “civil disobedience.”
Basha said it was the ultimate way to cope with what he says is government repression on the poorest Albanians, while the government is mired “in corruption and criminal affairs.”
At a televised meeting of the party leadership, Basha accused Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri of being involved with criminal groups and added that his boss, Prime Minister Edi Rama, was to blame for employing people with criminal records.
All this, he added, as authorities are making the poorest Albanians and small survival self-employment businesses the primary target of their fight against informality.
“Civil disobedience is … the only way out of the government’s pit,” Basha said.
The Democrats have repeatedly targeted the interior minister with accusations that he allegedly used his personal vehicle to transport drugs and traffickers. The vehicle in question was named in a police investigation.
Tahiri denies the allegations, saying he had sold the vehicle in question to someone else.
Referring to official data from the TIMS system – which documents all entry and exits from Albania, Basha said Tahiri had used the vehicle a year after he said he sold it. And his cousins, the Habibaj brothers, are also seen using the same vehicle for two years.
Earlier the opposition had shown documents that Tahiri continued to pay the insurance on the Audi in question after he had said he sold it.
Minister Tahiri said in a television show last week he sold the car in 2013, through a notary act, but it was not reflected in an official documents of the vehicle because he did not want the money to be seized by a court bailiff after he lost a defamation court case with the son of the former prime minister, Sali Berisha, when Tahiri was a main spokesman of the then-opposition.
The Democrats say Tahiri’s own statement means he is responsible for three other crimes.
“Hiding assets, tax evasion and obstruction of execution of a court decision,” said Basha, reminding the interior minister that ordinary citizens are being sent to jail for far less.
