Prosecutors freeze Fazlic property, bank accounts

Prosecutors ordered the sequestering, freezing of Fazlic’s property and bank accounts while they were investigating him on alleged illegal ways to hold businesses in Albania.
The move came after they had made a formal request to question Fazlic when he was in Tiran last week.
Fazlic gave an interview to Klan TV on Wednesday where he admitted having sold one of his companies in Albania, Crown Acquisitions, for 1.7 million Euros, but added that the buyer was a company that was owned by him too.
Fazlic said he hoped that in the future his businesses in Albania would be estimated to about 50 million Euros.
Fazlic acknowledge his friendship with Berisha since 2004, when the Democratic Party (DP) was in opposition, and he had fully agreed with his political views.
He had decided to invest in Albania following the Democrats victory in July 2005 because he considered that Berisha and the people working with him were going to bring a change to Albania.
He also said he considered Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha and former Defense Minister Fatmir Mediu as his close friends, whom he called by their first names during the interview.
Fazlic stated he would accept a summons of the General Prosecution’s Office to give explanations over his activities in the country.
Fazlic is officially under investigation on money laundering charges. Tirana Prosecutor’s Office stated that if accusations delivered by the opposition and the media were proved, the Bosnian businessman risked imprisonment from three to ten years.
A group of prosecutors went to the National Registration Office, where they took official papers regarding Fazlic’s four companies in Albania. Other investigators went to the General Tax Office to receive information on tax-related issues.
Local newspapers also quoted former government officials saying that Fazlic had been involved in Albania not only for business, but he had also been interested on delicate state issues, such as national security.
The dailies carried interview with former senior officials of the Interior Ministry of Interior describing that in a meeting in March 2006 at the Defense Minister Fatmir Mediu’s office, high state officials gave classified information on border security to Fazlic who accompanied U.S. governor and former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge, still not employed by Berisha as his adviser.