Arben Ahmetaj gave an interview to “Der Spiegel” from Lugano, where he has been for months, since he was declared wanted by SPAK.
He says that Rama wants to make him a scapegoat, but he does not explain what anger Rama has with him, that he wants to take revenge on him, at a time when, for years, he has given him the main posts in the Government.
Ahmetaj’s interview for “Der Spiegel”
“Do you mind if I smoke a cigar?” asks Arben Ahmetaj when we meet on a cafe terrace in the center of Lugano.
Ahmetaj is a figure who was considered a rising star of Albanian socialists from a young age. Despite an international arrest warrant, he is currently enjoying exile in Lugano and hoping for political asylum in Switzerland.
Ahmetaj puts the cold cigar in the ashtray and talks about his relationship with Rama, whom he sometimes calls “Kim Jong Un” referring to the North Korean dictator.
“I am not prepared to play as a scapegoat. He benefited from US and EU funded justice reform. Now he is using the justice system against his political opponents and anyone who opposes his bid for power.”
The former deputy prime minister says that he doubts that the Rama system is being silently tolerated in the West: “I have no idea why the Europeans do not want to see what is happening in Albania. They have excellent secret services who know everything in detail, especially about money laundering and organized crime.”
Ahmetaj confirms the investigators’ findings that Albania turned into a narco-state fueled by drug trafficking during Rama’s mandate.
“The flood of cannabis in the country from 2014 to 2017 was the hidden economic agenda of the prime minister. The increase in organized crime that it fueled has massively changed the Albanian economy and society. “Rama believes that he can still control the criminal environment, but he has been the one being controlled for a long time,” he says.
