Albanian ministry confirms sold munitions to a U.S. company were Chinese

TIRANA, June 23 – Albanian authorities said Monday they had offered all the proper documentation to the U.S. company showing that the munitions destined to Afghanistan were made in Chinese.
The Defense Ministry said the contract with Efraim Diveroli’s AEY Inc. showed the munitions’ production year and other details of the Chinese ammunition, for which the 22-year-old from Miami Beach and three others were charged with providing prohibited Chinese-made ammunition, according to a statement.
U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said Diveroli’s company ‘intentionally cut corners’ and that it was ‘risking the lives of our troops and allies’ with ‘old’ ammunition, not saying when or where it was manufactured. The formal investigation in the U.S., and also in Albania, began after a March 15 blast at a disposal factory near Tirana killed 26 and injured more than 300.
In Albania, the Prosecutor General’s office has charged former Defense Minister Fatmir Mediu and seven other ministry officials and businessmen of abuse of post and negligence due to the blast. Diveroli also was co-owner, together with an Albanian businessmen, of the company set to dispose thousands of tons of excess ammunition found in the Albanian army depots. No formal investigation of the sale of the Albanian ammunition to the U.S. company has begun, but the Albanian prosecutor office has not excluded such actions in the future. (Tirana Times Staff)