TIRANA, Oct. 27 – Albania’s former Minister of Interior Saimir Tahiri said in a press conference this week the charges against him set by Albanian prosecutors are groundless and he has proof from prosecutors in Italy that he is not being charged in the neighboring country.
He faces charges of alleged involvement with a cannabis trafficking gang in Albania.
Tahiri handed media a document issued by the Catania Prosecutor’s Office, which is in charge of the case against the Habilaj drug trafficking gang – the same group to which Albanian prosecutors have tied the charges against Tahiri.
The document notes there are no criminal proceedings against Tahiri in Italy.
Tahiri said that Catania prosecutors have been investigating against the Habilaj group for four years and still issued the document, while Albanian prosecutors had quickly sought his criminal prosecution on the basis of documents published by the media.
He said he would be open to a full investigation and that he was only seeking the truth.
Opposition representative said the document had no exonerating value as the crimes Tahiri had allegedly committed took place in Albania not Italy.
