Albania’s foreign minister charged of abuse of power

TIRANA, Nov 25 – Albanian Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha was accused of abuse of power of improperly favoring a U.S.-Turkish joint venture when awarded a highway construction contract while he was transport minister.
Basha was asked to go to the prosecutor’s office on Thursday to hear the charge, according to a statement from his lawyer Zef Nikaj.
Prosecutor General’s spokeswoman Holta Zhiti declined to confirm the charge saying that would be first made known to the defendant, only adding the minister was called for a hearing.
Basha was stripped of immunity in December last year, a move that paved the way for the public prosecutor to start investigation and later charge him.
Basha, who was transport minister from September 2005 until April 2007, denies the accusations and has said he was proud to have been part of the project.
The charge is related to an October 2006 deal the state signed with the Bechtel-Enka consortium, made up of San Francisco, California-based Bechtel International Inc. and Istanbul-based Enka.
The consortium was awarded a 418 million Euros contract to build a 65-kilometer section of road. That figure has been increased by about 200 million Euros.
The highway, to be completed in mid-2009, will link Albania’s isolated north to neighboring ethnic-Albanian-dominated Kosova.
At the same time two other former senior officials of the transport ministry were released of their change of abuse of funds.
A Tirana court decided that investigation and charges against Armand Teliti and Lejla Saraci would end due to lack of evidence but that would continue for another official Andi Toma, a former lawyer of the institution.