TIRANA, May 3 – Former Minister of Interior Saimir Tahiri gave up his MP mandate Thursday, saying he would deal with the justice system as a private citizen in facing allegations he helped an international drug-trafficking gang during his time as a minister.
Tahiri was elected as an MP through the ruling Socialist Party of Prime Minister Edi Rama and expelled from the group after the allegation surfaced. Using immunity rules, his fellow Socialist MPs did not allow prosecutors to arrest Tahiri, however, and he had become a large target for the opposition and international representatives.
Tahiri made the surprise resignation announcement at a press conference, a week after attending his first parliamentary session in six months. He said he wanted to speak but was not given the chance after the opposition disrupted the session.
According to Tahiri, now both the government and opposition are situated against him — a fact that will not keep him from making public appearances, he said.
“Someone would suggested that I say ‘it wasn’t me, but Edi Rama who was the head of the drug trafficking,’ and that would save me from it all. Someone else would tell me to shut up, as it’s not a matter of nerves, but open business,” Tahiri said.
In his speech, he was also harsh on his successor, Fatmir Xhafaj, whom he accused of using the same words to attack police that were used by former Democrat Prime Minister Sali Berisha and head of the opposition Lulzim Basha.
“I’ve been hearing of the race on who is going to catch the big fish, ambassadors from all around keep talking about the mafia. I have endured this for six months, I will endure it for as long as it takes until my truth comes out,” Tahiri said.
Without mentioning any particular names, Tahiri said other ‘big fish’ officials have escaped justice by accusing others of things they have done themselves.
Tahiri said the last in a row of allegations concerning his case is his part in EU member states’ hesitation to open accession negotiations with Albania.
“25 years of thieves who have robbed [the Albanian] people of their children’s future on top of their money, and I am the one hampering integration. If there is one thing I am confident of is that from day one until now I have at least succeeded in one thing, I did not become like them,” he said.
During Thursday’s parliamentary session, the country’s opposition once again boycotted the program, taking off after head of the Democratic Party parliamentary group Edmond Spaho said Tahiri’s MP resignation came after evidence of his illegal involvement had been destroyed.
Prime Minister Edi Rama, who took the pulpit next, said the opposition’s presence would not add anything to the session, and highlighted the importance of the government’s undertaken raising accountability campaign.
Rama also addressed recent media reports that Germany had put Tahiri’s arrest as a condition for Albania’s European integration during his visit in Berlin, saying these are entirely the opposition’s claims, the members of which he also called “the fathers of lying.”
“With this opposition, the SP can stay in power for thousands of years,” Rama said.
Rama’s Socialist Party said in a statement Thursday, Tahiri’s decision was his own and he should now deal with the justice system alone to have the truth come out.
In a reaction on social media, opposition leaded Basha said Tahiri’s resignation was a “political maneuver” designed by Rama who would now use prosecutors to “protect his own criminal power.”
