Former minister accused of abuse, calls charges ‘entirely political’

Authorities say there are no suspected Ebola cases in Albania.
TIRANA, Oct. 15 – Following reports about possible Ebola cases in the region, the Albanian Health Ministry has reassured the public that there are no suspected cases of the deadly hemorrhagic disease in the country.
Klodian Rjepaj of the Health Ministry said Albania remained suspicion free, after fears coming out last weekend when neighboring Macedonia reported the death of a British man with Ebola-like symptoms.
After tests were made in a German lab it came out he was not an Ebola victim.
Nevertheless Albanian authorities said they were taking precautionary measures to prevent any probable infection.
Ebola is transmitted through the contact with the blood, tissues or bodily fluids of sick individuals, or through the contact of contaminated objects or surfaces.
Rjepaj called on the people to be very cautious when detecting relatives with symptoms such as sudden fever, weakness, muscle pain, headaches and external bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea and rush them to hospital.
Bode says the charges are ‘primitive revenge’ of current government
Former Finance Minister Ridvan Bode and his deputy back in 2009, Sherefedin Shehu, have been formally charged by the current officials at the ministry for allegedly abusing state funds through a 250 million euro syndicate loan the ministry then secured for a public works project.
The ministry alleges the two former officials took illegal steps in the procedure of receiving the loan, favoring some bidders in an unfair competition process. They are accused of violating the existing laws in the process and changing along the way its procedure and criteria.
The ministry says that the loan was expensive with its 13.3% interest rate, and the process in question had caused a damage of 60 million euros to the state budget.
Bode reacted immediately, saying that the indictment was ridiculous and that he was open to any probe.
He told Albanian media that the accusations are “entirely political” and the charges filed are “a primitive revenge by the current minister, Shkelqim Cani.”
Bode said the loan in question was taken at the start of the economic crisis following a suggestion of the International Monetary Fund and that all its financial terms were approved by parliament.
Because as Bode and Shehu are currently members of parliament, the charges will now be investigated by the General Prosecutor’s Office.
The current Albanian government has filed tens of similar charges about the work of officials from the previous administration. No major case has gone to court yet.