U.S. Official Defends Ambassador In Tirana

TIRANA, July 31 – A United States Department of State official on Wednesday said there was no reason to think that the U.S. Ambassador in Tirana John L. Withers and his staff had violated the law in the case of the arms traffic that has turned into a scandal.
Chris Hoh said in an interview to the Voice of America that President George W. Bush’s visit to Albania last year and the NATO invitation to the country were two important moments in the already very good ties between the two countries.
On the alleged illegal arms trade Hoh said a company was accused of that while the Congress had started an investigation into whether the embassy in Tirana was involved in that. He added they had already started an internal investigation on the case.
Twenty-two-year-old Efraim Diveroli has been accused in Miami of defrauding the Pentagon under a contract he had to supply ammunition to forces in Afghanistan.
Diveroli remains free on bail.
Prosecutors say Diveroli’s company, AEY Inc., provided banned Chinese-made ammunition to forces in Afghanistan and claimed it came from Albania.
AEY was paid more than $10 million for the ammunition. Prosecutors contend Diveroli’s company removed markings from containers to hide their origin.
No trial date has been set. Diveroli faces decades in prison if convicted of all 71 counts. His attorney has said the Pentagon misconstrued the law and knew the source of the ammunition.
Hoh said the investigation was ongoing and he could not make any comment on them and reassured that the Department of State would provide all the required assistance to that.
“We are not aware of any abuse of post from the Ambassador Withers or his staff. Everything shows they have a good work in general, in the improvement of the relations between Albania and the United States and have also assisted authorities in the investigation of the arms traffic issue,” said Hoh.
The official said that he personally knew Withers as a highly honorable personality, adding that “I am convinced that when the case comes to an end his reputation will remain the same.”
Hoh said that Albania’s future challenges were the fight against corruption, consolidation of the democratic institutions, elections and their infrastructure, coordination among the institutions, the judicial system and the economic reform.
“NATO membership is not automatically done and upon entering the club of the western democracies demands are higher. That is they should continue,” he said.