TIRANA, Dec. 14 – U.S. Ambassador Donald Lu said this week Albania’s political class should stop bowing to powerful interests of corrupt businessmen, major criminals and drug traffickers.
Addressing the Ombudsman Conference held in Tirana, Ambassador Lu said that drug traffickers like Klement Balili, a former Saranda government official who is wanted by Greek authorities that have dubbed him “Escobar of Balkans,” could not have escaped justice without the support of elements from the state and the political class.
“How else can we explain the fact that untouchable drug trafficker Klement Balili is still free. According to the media, he has evaded 200 policemen that have been hunting for him. According to his brother, he walks freely on the streets of Tirana because until last Friday the Prosecutor General’s office had not ordered his arrest,” Ambassador Lu said. “Klement Balili, a former Saranda government official, represents a major failure of the police and justice system.”
Seven months ago, Greek police in cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency arrested drug traffickers connected with the Albanian local government official and launched an arrest warrant against him.
Albanian police and authorities of several European Union countries also cooperated with the operation, which targeted a large drug trafficking organization, which authorities suspect is led among others by Balili.
Albanian Serious Crimes Prosecution Office has launched criminal investigation against him while Greek officials sent a second file to back the arrest warrant. Authorities have about 10,000 pages of documentation to translate which according to Minister of Justice Ylli Manjani has delayed the process.
Meanwhile, U.S. law enforcement officials along with U.S Ambassador Lu have repeatedly called on the Prosecutor General’s Office and encouraged the police, the Minister of Interior, the Minister of Justice and the Prosecutor General to arrest him.
U.S. Ambassador believes that if Albania can not arrest Balili, than the country is not serious about the fight against drug trafficking.
“If Albania cannot catch Klement Balili, how will it go after other big fish. Who will want to work with Albania? Who will believe this is a serious country in the fight against drug trafficking?” – Lu said at the conference.
Ambassador Lu added that Albania’s future cooperation on anti-narcotics with United States is conditioned upon Albania arresting and prosecuting big fish, including Klement Balili.
“We hope for a future in which more leaders in the country listen to the Office of the Ombudsman than the drug traffickers,” Lu said.
