Corruption in the Palace of Justice or Corrupt Politicians?

By Jerina Zaloshnja
The Justice Minister Ilir Rusmali resigned in the aftermath of the public accusations levelled at him by a high official of his ministry.
The Director General of Prisons accused his boss, the Minister of Justice of serious abuses with the law and the local media transmitted a recorded conversation in which the Minister’s brother could be heard pressuring a high official of the Ministry in order for his construction company to receive preferential treatment in an open tender.
According to the conversation the high official in question seemed to refuse to bow down to the request and help the company of the Minister’s brother. He was shortly afterwards fired by Minister Rusmali.
But the accusations leveled at the Minister of Justice do not stop here. The Director General of Prisons went on to accuse his boss of abusing his power in the way he controls a number of other institutions that fall under his jurisdiction. The Director General of Prisons then resigned stating that he could no longer work under a minister that breaks the law. Not very long afterwards, on the morning of the next day, it was the minister himself who resigned.
Since the fall of Communism this was the first case of a member of government resigning after being publicly accused of corruption. From this point of view one could say that the Minister of Justice gave an example of a new type of political culture. During the last sixteen year it is not simply that there have not been any resignations because of accusations of corruption; on the contrary every single high official accused of corruption and of breaking the law has protected himself behind politics. Minister Rusmali on the other hand seems to have decided not to hide behind his political role and this would indeed be a first for post-Communist Albania. On the other hand it is just as likely that the to officials in question, i.e. the Minister and the Director, lost the support of Prime Minister Berisha thus making their resignation the only choice left to them.
Judging from the accusation levelled at each other by the Minister and his Director one can clearly see that they belong to two rival factions within the Demnocratic Party. The Director General of Prisons is also the head of one of the local branches of the DP in Tirana and it is clear that he enjoys the support of the President and a number of MPs. The Minister of Justice on the other hand was one of the people who enjoyed the most support from the Prime Minister. Although he had not distinguished himself in the Democratic Party he climbed the career ladder and with the support of Berisha he even became Deputy Prime Minister for a time. It is hard to guess why Rusmali lost Berisha’s support, but the Prime Minister’s long spell of silence on the conflict in the Palace of Justice clearly demonstrates that Rusmali is no longer Berisha’s favourite.
The public was informed that there had been several clashes between the two high officials during the last months. Both stated that they had already informed the Prime Minister of their divergences and accusations of corruption a long time ago. In other words both officials had asked the Prime Minister not simply to arbitrate between them, but also to act as the judge and prosecutor in their dispute. It is clear that they both expected the Prime Minister to react and that they both expected the other to be fired. But none of them addressed their allegations and accusations at the institutions that are supposed to deal with them. So they told the Prime Minister of their accusations and although both are very high officials in the Ministry of Justice it never even crossed their mind to go to a Public Prosecutor.
Actually even in the end when both officials decided to make public their accusations they both asked the Prime Minister to decide on what the truth was. If we add to this the fact that through their public declarations both officials made it clear that they have behind rival groups within the ruling Democratic Party, the only question that arises and which in fact has been waiting for an answer from some time now is: Is there corruption in the Palace of Justice or are there simply corrupt politicians?