TIRANA, July 30 – Albania’s opposition Democratic Party has criticized the work of a British company, Crown Agents, which has been hired by the left-wing government to help the customs department increase revenue and improve operations.
The results this year have shown a reduction in customs revenue, for which the Democrats blame the British advisers, calling their contract “a failure.” Crown Agents has failed in its mission and should be kicked out of the country, the Democrats said.
“It is clear that the contract with the Crown Agents is a failure smelling of corruption. That company has taken the money from the Albanian government … but has fulfilled none of the goals so boastfully declared by [Prime Minister] Edi Rama himself,” Democrats’ leader Lulzim Basha said at a meeting with the parliamentary group. “The contract with Crown Agents should be canceled. Albanians should not pay one more cent.”
There was an immediate reaction from the British company itself, noting it “does not intend to get drawn into a political debate,” adding they are open to “constructive advice and suggestions on how we could improve our work and we are always open to discuss these issues with anyone.”
It added it completely and utterly rejects “the libelous accusations and implications” recently made in the media by commentators and politicians that there was or is anything corrupt about the award and implementation of the company’s contract.
“These individuals have not presented one shred of evidence in support of this claim and will not be able to do so because the claim is entirely untrue. We therefore respectfully ask them to withdraw these allegations,” a company statement said.
It added, “Crown Agents works to the highest standards of probity and integrity and we take any accusation of corruption very seriously. Equally, we will take whatever measures are needed to defend and maintain our reputation in the face of unsubstantiated allegations.”
The British embassy also reacted to the opposition’s accusations, saying the UK government takes corruption very seriously.
Corruption in business is considered as a crime based on the UK Bribery Act, and any form of corruption in the British companies, even when they operate outside the country, should be brought to the attention of the British police, the embassy said.
The embassy said it had noted many accusation from the start of the work of the company in 2013, but they were not based on any concrete evidence.
“It is clear they are not reliable and should not be taken into consideration by the parliament and the public opinion,” the embassy statement said.
There was no reaction from the government about the latest opposition accusations.
