Authorities must ensure that no further damage is done to the central bank’s image.
Tirana Times editorial
By nature, central banks and the people who run them are supposed to be sturdy, boring and snobbish. They make up the cornerstone of a state and its financial stability. They are only supposed to make the news when they change interest rates.
So naturally, when the main news item in the slowest part of the annual news cycle is the theft of the equivalent of $7 million from the Bank of Albania by one or more employees over a span of four years – it grabs the public’s attention.
Much of that attention has been in the form of anger and calls for Bank of Albania Governor Adrian Fullani and the other members of the bank’s Supervisory Council to resign. While there is no indication they are directly involved in the theft, critics say they failed to perform their duties as watchdogs of the country’s most important financial institution.
There has been intense media coverage that has led to a lot of damage to the image of the bank’s governor and supervisory board members. The central bank’s image itself has been shaken. Whatever happens next, state authorities must ensure that no further damage is done to the central bank’s image.
Much of the public anger was fueled that media campaign which has focused on the central bank governor’s political connections and opulence, digging into personal photos of him and his children showing off designer watches, sports cars and lavish parties. He is also accused by the media of buying off politicians on both sides of the spectrum by hiring their relatives to work for the bank, which has a reputation to pay well above the private market. Fullani himself is the highest-paid official in the Albanian state – with a take-home salary of more than ten times the average salary in Albania.
In a country with enduring poverty by European standards and where communism has left deep roots in people’s minds about how equal, or at least how humble, people are supposed to be in society, Fullani’s pictures showering his son with champagne or his son wiping his forehead with a 500-euro bill are likely to stick in the public psyche.
It’s not the first time Fullani has raised eyebrows over spending, however, not just personal spending, but at the central bank too. The central bank had a volleyball team that had more funding than the national volleyball team, for example, according to news reports last year.
The opposition Democrats have indicated they view the media campaign against Fullani as orchestrated by the ruling majority to bring in a more government-friendly governance to the Bank of Albania.
Their theory has some support in reality as the media outlets that have been the strongest in attacking Fullani are those that are usually associated with the left in their editorial stances, and Fullani also appears to have lost political support on the left.
While receiving supporting statements from the Socialist-led ruling coalition in the early days of the scandal, in light of growing public anger, or using that anger as an excuse, the Socialists appear to have changed position and are looking to make changes in the leadership of the central bank.
The opposition Democrats, on the other hand, have been largely supportive.
Whatever happens to Fullani or the supervisory council members of the bank, much of the damage to their professional and personal image has been done. In a more advanced society we could expect a resignation or a sacking. In Albania, things work a little differently. If Fullani survives the scandal, this would not be the first time that a public official in Albania is perceived as morally guilty by society only to be cleared legally and enjoy an even stronger position in public life at a later time.
For now, the important thing is that special prosecutors looking into the case are allowed to get to the bottom of things and find and punish all those responsible, recovering and giving any money hidden away back to state – and its shareholders, the Albanian taxpayers.
