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Under Investigation

One of the accusations the opposition Socialists made against the ruling Democrats during recent disputes over the forthcoming local elections was that the Democrats were issuing large numbers of birth certificates - used for identification purposes in the elections.

Last week on Fiks Fare, they broadcast a piece in which a journalist managed to acquire a birth certificate after supplying fake documents. This subsequently led to a lawsuit from the Socialists against Ferdinand Poni, Deputy Minister of the Interior. The Socialists alleged that Mr Poni had issued an instruction on 23 January easing the identification requirements for issuing birth certificates.

As a result, Mr Poni was invited on Thursday to visit the Tirana Prosecution Office to explain his decision. Mr Poni did not dispute the claim that he issued the instruction. The question seems to be whether or not he was acting within his legal authority.

So far, there has been no comment from the Prosecutor, or from Mr Poni.

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