Defense Ministry accused of illegal weapon sale

TIRANA, July 11 – The opposition Socialist Party has accused the government of the Democratic Party, and precisely its Defense Minister Arben Imami of illegal weapon sale.
They also say that nothing would pass for such a thing without Prime Minister Sali Berisha being aware of.
A group of the opposition Socialist lawmakers tried to start an investigation at the defense ministry but they were not allowed to do that, allegedly for not properly following the parliamentary procedures for such an act.
It all started last week after the Army’s Secret Service, Colonel Ylli Zyla, resigned following media reports linking his wife to arms traders.
An Albanian newspaper, Shqiptarja.com published documents that allegedly Zyla’s wife was a partner in a company which trades arms through the Defense ministry.
Following that there started the accusation from the opposition. They made some attempts but they were all turned down. First there was blocked a probe by the parliamentary National Security Commission, which is tasked with investigating Albania’s arms trade.
The ministry has denied the accusation.
On Tuesday the ministry’s Secretary General Edvin Kulluri said that the opposition lawmakers had no reason to ask answers directly from the minister, who had a busy agenda. He added that the opposition lawmakers had not presented a formal request as required by the constitution.
But the answer came immediately from the Socialist lawmaker heading the group, Ilir Gjoni who accused the minister, Imami of violating the constitution though “Unfortunately he has been one of the persons involved in its compilation.”
Leader of the opposition Socialists Edi Rama went even further.
Rama said that the illegal arms trade discovered until now is only the top of the iceberg.
He continued to accuse the ministry that based on their own sources inside the ministry; they were exploiting the ministry’s equipment to tap the opposition for political purposes and warned those responsible that they would be held accountable to the law.
The opposition seems determined to take the case to the end, though they have not made clear further moves in their efforts for an investigation.
But in such a political fight there is still not a single word to mention the fact that Albania is a NATO member since 2009. That means it has a lot of responsibilities and duties toward the alliance.
Can a defense minister, a prime minister and a government of NATO member country make weapon sales illegally or without the knowledge of the alliance?
“Albania, a NATO member country, has not and is not trafficking weapons,” says a statement from the ministry. “The attack against the legal and transparent trade of the weapons from the Republic of Albania serves the interests of the Serb business,” it adds.
Strange, Albanians always direct their criticizing words to Serbia.
The opposition responded with the same form, saying that they have lots of documentation showing how the minister had conducted this what they called illegal weapons trade through the Serb connections in Serbia and Montenegro.
Well, if that is proved that could be a harsh blow against the government and the country too.
The local media continued to hint that the army’s secret policeman was obliged to resign from the post though the persons accountable to the trade were his bosses.
The case has turned into a topic of the daily agenda of the news.
The opposition seems to have started an ever-growing campaign against the government taking individual cases to show its corruption and lack of the capabilities to lead, govern the country.
But can it prove anything on that? That is their duty, or they should ask pardon if they fail to do that.