Skip to main content

EU Graft

The European Commission used to have its Albanian headquarters in Rr. Donika Kastrioti, right in the heart of the city. So it was a surprise when a while ago they moved to an anonymous building on the edge of the city on Rr. Durresit.

Now we have an explanation. OLAF, the Commission's anti-fraud unit has been involved in a lengthy inquiry concerning "suspicions of corruption, the manipulation of tender procedures and fraud in the context of the leasing and procurement of EC delegation buildings and their security installations in countries outside the EU."

The website of the EC delegation in Albania carries the press release from which this quote is taken, but what it doesn't say is that the circumstances surrounding the delegation's change of headquarters is at the heart of this inquiry.

Last Wednesday, in co-ordinated raids across Europe, three Italians were arrested. One of those arrested is Giancarlo Ciotto, an official at the Commission. According to the Italian news agency, ANSA, "Ciotti is suspected of pocketing bribes from real estate and security companies in return for the assignment of contracts to rent, equip and secure EC buildings," including the building on Rr. Durresit.

ANSA reports that the building in Tirana "is owned by a private company, one of whose partners is an Italian businessman based in Potenza" and notes other press stories claiming that the EU has been paying somewhere between 40,000 - 50,000 EUR per month.

If it weren't my taxes being wasted by this profligate and corrupt institution it would almost be funny, given recent activity by the Commission on the transparency of public funds, and the improving of external auditing.

Unfortunately we have all become so used to stories of the EU's corruption that we are no longer shocked or angered by it. Welcome to the club.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Makes you think if these officials have come to preach or to be preached.
Anonymous said…
...Or if they are preaching to the converted:)
Anonymous said…
At least they did something about it and made arrests. Here in Malaysia, the head (for 6 years) of the government's anti-corruption unit was kicked out of his job last week for... corruption! But instead of going to prison, the authorities thanked him for his valuable contributions.
Anonymous said…
that is why we albanians are good at it, because we have had excellent teachers :)

Popular posts from this blog

Dy Rame Per Tirane

I was watching Top Channel last night, first the news, then Fiks Fare. According to them Tirana's citizens now have a choice not only between Rama and Olldashi, but also between Rama and Rama. A minor right-wing faction, Parti 'Balli Kombetar' , submitted papers to the election authorities registering their candidate, Akile Rama. The people on Fiks Fare got hold of the papers and sent a reporter and camera team to the address listed for Mr A Rama. After much ringing of the bell the gate was reluctantly opened by a middle-aged woman who refused to speak to the reporter and tried to close the gate on her. Back in the studio Saimiri and Doctori - the two presenters of Fiks Fare - revealed that Mr Akile Rama was 73 years old, in hospital, and did not know he was now a candidate for mayor. They also compared two documents - the papers submitted on his behalf, and a genuine document he had signed. The signatures were not even remotely similar. There was an interview with the lea

Albania and the Perils of the 21st Century

Another article on religion in Albania appeared yesterday. Patrick Poole, writing in the American Thinker , argues that Saudi funding for the construction of mosques and the training of imams is a threat to Albania, since these mosques and imams reflect the fundamentalist interpretation of Islam dominant in Saudi Arabia.

Guide Turistike

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council , the future is bright for Albania. The Council ranks Albania ninth out of 174 countries for tourism growth over the next ten years. A summary of the Council's report is available, as is the full report complete with many pages of graphs, charts and spreadsheets. This summer I have seen a number of tourists on the streets of Tirana. Some of them may well be Albanian expats, or people of Albanian descent returning home to visit family, but others are genuine 'foreigners'. Judging from their appearance, they are probably best described as 'independent travellers' - the kind of people who are not interested in luxury hotels or crowded beaches. This is a good start, but independent travellers are not the kind of big spenders that the tourist industry likes. In the longer term, if Albania wants to bring in the kind of free-spending tourists who currently holiday in Croatia or Slovenia, there will have to be a huge invest