Sali Berisha was invited to the show “The Unexposed” on MCN TV, where he was asked by Ylli Rakipi about the accusations he made against Altin Dumani, that he had benefited from three apartments by alluding to their source.
Berisha heard on the show the answer that Dumani had given to these accusations during an interview and stated that the response of the head of SPAK seemed to him like “the response of a brigadier in an agricultural cooperative”. Berisha continued with the accusations against Dumani, debating with Rakipi, who reminded him that there are people who also talk like this about Berisha’s daughter’s apartments abroad.
Debate:
Ylli Rakipi: You have made quite harsh reactions to Mr. Altin Dumani and accusations about his wealth. You said where he found three apartments. Here is how he responded in a television interview.
(Dumani’s response is shown).
So he says I declared the apartments. Why do you say they are suspicious, do you have proof that they are suspicious or from illegal activity?
Sali Berisha: Whoever follows his answer, resembles the answer of the most lost brigadier in an agricultural cooperative that has committed a crime and I hold him accountable. A miserable level. Now wait, you are journalists, analysts, if you find a single Albanian, except Altin Dumani, with three apartments with a state salary and no other sources, then I give you the right. But, I guarantee you, that it can never happen, because in this country, with a state salary, you have to take a loan to pay it off for at least 25-30 years, to buy an apartment. To accept Dumani’s thick lies, never, never. Secondly, you heard what he said. He said he was checked by Pamela Balluku, he forgot to also say Yuri Kim and Sanxhaktari, Mrs. Sanxhaktari. This is the check that was made on him. There is another fact, that Albanians, from Konispol to Valbona, come out and say that I bought three apartments with a state salary, except for Dumani, who got stuck in his throat with the word apartment, he doesn’t have one. That’s why this is his vetting.
Ylli Rakipi: Do you have proof?
Sali Berisha: He admitted that he has three apartments. Find an Albanian with a candle, that I, a salaried employee of the Albanian state from 1992 until today, managed to buy three apartments.
Ylli Rakipi: My question is simpler than that. Do you have evidence that comes from corruption or illegal activity?
Sali Berisha: Of course there is evidence, absolute evidence. There are three declared apartments. Don’t defend yourself.
Ylli Rakipi: I don’t defend myself, I have never met this man in my life.
Sali Berisha: To take his salary, they don’t even cover the cost of an apartment.
Ergys Mërtiri: He says I have one on credit.
Sali Berisha: What does he do? He talks back and forth about the Church giving it to me. But when they showed him the problem of the gifts, he backed down and said no one ever gave it to me. Sir, tell us a little bit about how apartments are bought with a salary?
Ergys Mërtiri: He says he got it on a zero-interest loan.
Sali Berisha: With the audits of Pamela and the Sanxhatari.
Ergys Mërtiri: He says he got the loan with zero percent interest during your time.
Sali Berisha: Read it a little bit. So even if I admit that he can throw the citizens’ brains out to cover up his hidden assets, forget that he can do it. He will face the law.
Ergys Mërtiri: We can’t judge the pockets of others, but with three apartments it doesn’t seem like anything to me, because the people in the court have become super rich, the prosecution has been among the most corrupt.
***
Ylli Rakipi: I asked you for evidence about the apartments you mentioned about Dumani. Here, for example, I had your daughter invited, people come and make accusations about houses abroad. I don’t accept them without evidence. I asked you for evidence about Dumani. Do we have evidence that he got them illegally? When I ask you as a journalist, doctor, I want to be 1000% with you if you give me evidence about his three apartments and let’s say that he is corrupt.
Sali Berisha: More, sir! First of all, the three apartments were released in 2016. But there is no one in the world who can convince me that with a salary of 140 thousand lek, you can buy three apartments in Albania, because it never happens.
Ergys Mërtiri: He says he has it on credit.
Sali Berisha: I myself bought an apartment 60 square meters larger than the one I had during the dictatorship, and to tell you the truth, if I hadn’t received a sum of money that had kept me in the Presidency after I left, I, sir, couldn’t have bought that apartment without taking out a loan. So let’s not do that. You tell me where the trail is, I tell you, here’s the wolf.
