Prosecutors drop monopoly charges against Olldashi

TIRANA, Oct. 26 – Tirana’s Prosecutor’s Office has dropped charges against Transport and Public Works Minister Sokoli Olldashi who was accused of granting a 40-year monopoly for the construction of private fibre optic lines along national roads. Investigations started last September after some articles published in the daily Panorama accused Olldashi of creating a monopoly situation with fibre optic lines. Panorama claims Olldashi had awarded a 40-year monopoly contract to Albanian Telecommunications Union (ATY) to build fibre optic lines along national roads after cancelling the contracts of four other companies under an order dated August 23, 2009. The Transport Ministry says a decision by Tirana Prosecutor’s Office dated Oct. 17, 2011 proves the cancellation of the permits for the four companies was in compliance with the minister’s powers because the permits had been awarded under no deadline and for free. Regarding accusations of favouring the ATU company, the ministry says the prosecution considered the 4 percent fee the state will get in compliance with the concessionary payments, concluding that there is no methodology for the determination of this tariff. “The state budget benefits not less than 2 million euros under the new permit compared to nothing earlier,” said the ministry earlier.