The conversation in the Top Story studio continued with strong tones, where they clashed in a debate with the socialist Eduart Shalsi and the opposition MP Agron Shehaj.
While talking about the microcredit scandal, the debate worsened and Shalsi and Shehaj burst out labeling each other.
Excerpts from the debate:
Shalsi: The amount of late interests and penalties cannot exceed 30%. We should have taken this measure in 2010, 2012, 2015. I saw what you did yesterday with the chief prosecutor. Unlike you, I come from a long banking experience. Just for the stories of microcredits, we have made over dozens of meetings. I did this so I wouldn’t overshadow you.
Shehaj: Who is to blame? Who is responsible?
Shalsi: What kind of hospitality they have to give. There is a process that the chief prosecutor is following. What do we do as legislators? Yes, we did not take measures like the one we took. We took two measures. We set a limit. It took a measure for the special protection of the consumer. What do we need to improve for the customer? What is happening now is precisely understanding the dimensions of the problem. Today, 70-80 official complaints have been filed with the Bank of Albania.
Shehaj: There are thousands of cases in the courts. This is to put the hands on the head.
Shalsi: First, we must understand that microcredits have invested in Albania, but during the last 10 years, they have increased a lot in volume. Over the years, bad credit also appeared. It was also the time when the problems of the system came to light. The issue of bailiffs is one that needs to be clarified without shouting. I am a politician, but I have concrete proposals. On the one hand, you have the privilege of being elected, to give solutions to the citizens, on the other hand, you behave like a gossip. What is the number of citizens who received microloans?
Shehaj: That gentleman has one of the most important roles in the Bank of Albania and they tell me how much they are. That teacher in Vlora, 7 million ALL. I started a trial, I also got a lawyer… A man killed himself and they say he ran away.
Shalsi: Open a party Agron Shehaj and will get people. He has not come to the finance committee for three years.
Shehaj: Everything that is happening behind, because this is a scheme that has been going on for years. SPAK acted and they moved quickly. They started to worry. They stole as much as they stole, SPAK caught them, SPAK intervened…
Shalsi: Who stole?
Shehaj: Who took the money? Who silenced you in the commission for four years?
Shalsi: You are shameless. He is the governor of the Bank of Albania.
Shehaj: They come here to the studio now, together with the one who sewed him because he can’t sleep.
Shalsi: How shameless you are, how do you talk, man. He just put something in the mouth of the IMF, which he did not say.
