TIRANA, Oct. 13 – Albert Veliu – the man who the Albanian prosecution is accusing of having staged the audio-surveillance alleging the brother of the country’s interior minister was involved in cannabis trafficking was arrested in Kosovo on Friday and then released by the court the following day.
In Prishtina, where Veliu is waiting after being arrested in Kosovo for illegally crossing the border, the court decided his protection pretense is valid and that he will remain at the asylum-seekers centre until an official extradition request arrives from Tirana.
Last week, the court in Albania accepted the Serious Crimes Prosecution’s request to issue arrest warrants for Veliu and Fredi Alizoti – who is accused of being the one who impersonated Agron Xhafaj, the minister of interior’s brother, and who is currently behind bars.
Alizoti has admitted he impersonated Agron, in return, according to him, of an amount of 200 thousand euros, that Veliu had told him Democratic Party MP Ervin Salianji would give them.
It has been also reported Alizoti stated during the first hearing, on June 1, and finally on September 27, in the presence of his lawyer, that Veliu had asked him to stage a conversation where he pretended to be Agron, the minister’s brother.
Jetmir Olldashi, the journalist who publicly admitted of having conducted the surveillance in context of his investigation of ties between drugs and politics in Vlora and having reached Veliu as a middle-man, has also been issued ‘obligation to appear in front of the court.’
All three are being accused of ‘false denunciation in cooperation.”
In a video-recording published on Tuesday night by DP MP Ervin Salianji in local media TV show, Alizoti is seen telling another, unidentified, person that he was accompanied by the Head of the State Police Ardi Veliu himself at the Serious Crimes Prosecution.
Alizoti said, in the video-recording, that Officer Veliu had tried to provoke him during the ride at the prosecution and that he’d asked him about his political affiliations.
So far, through a statement, the police has denied the involvement of its chief in any conversation with Alizoti.
Investigations into the case are ongoing, while Prime Minister Edi Rama has said in interviews he’s put together a work team to find everyone who was involved even in the slightest in what he’s called “an attempt for coup d’etat.”
