TIRANA, Oct. 27 – Prime Minister Edi Rama said Tuesday that his Socialist Party would reject prosecutors’ requests for the arrest of former Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri as “unfounded on evidence,” while stressing that he would give everyone the backing of “a serious and deep investigation.”
Rama made the comments at the Socialist Parliamentary Group meeting, adding Tahiri would be treated as an independent MP until the investigation ends.
“Tahiri will no longer be part of this group and of the leading forums of the Socialist Party,” Rama said.
Prosecutors from the Serious Crimes Division issued a statement saying there had been “political interference in the investigation process” on the part of the ruling majority.
The prosecution had asked the parliament to authorize the arrest of former Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri, relying on wiretaps of the Habilaj group by Italian investigators. Tahiri’s name “Saimir” was mentioned in several cases for receiving sums of money. But the facts brought by the prosecution at the Mandate and Immunity Commission were evaluated by majority representatives as insufficient to support the arrest warrant.
In a lengthy talk about the Tahiri issue, which has livened the political debate for a week, Prime Minister Rama defended the position that his party representatives held at the meeting of the Mandate and Immunity Council.
“This party will never become the shield of anyone in the face of justice, but we will not allow in the name of justice to abolish the constitution and to subdue MPs and public servants under the alibi that it is fighting crime and corruption or with the intention to issue charges on behalf of political parties,” Rama said, indicating he believed the prosecutors were politically-motivated and against the government.
Rama said “the prosecution gave a dramatic and dramatic show” but they had a lack of evidence to support the arrest warrant.
