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| Sali Berisha and Alastair King-Smith |
After being declared persona non grata by the USA for major corruption about a year ago, Great Britain has done the same to the former Prime Minister of Albania Sali Berisha, even considering him dangerous for Britain and Albania due to his close connections to criminals and crime.
However, Berisha has fought and with his influence managed to defeat the current DP chairman Lulzim Basha, formally and informally. And as he prepared to increase his influence with appearances in Parliament and posts on Facebook, Britain declared him "persona non grata". Opinionists and analysts are divided in opinion, but there are those who say that Sali Berisha will soon be declared "non grata" by Italy, Greece, and gradually by all pro-Western countries.
Others think that he has taken care that his followers are ignorant, and by enriching the ignorant, the latter obey orders that they do not understand simply out of inertia and are motivated just by the money.
The United Kingdom Embassy in Tirana that you represent, issued a public reaction following my declaration on the designation from the authorities of your country. In the absence of facts, instead of a public excuse, this reaction defends the indecent defamations of the Home Secretary's letter in which I am accused of corruption, namely the abuse of public office with the purpose of personal gains for myself and my inner circle. Because this fiction does not exist, you weren't able to put forward any evidence and facts, and you won't be able in the future.
The sole ‘corruption’ mentioned in this letter relates to Damir Fazllic, a UK citizen and my former electoral advisor part of the BGR team during the 2005 elections, whom, according to your letter, I have enriched and protected when incriminating evidence against him surfaced.
As a matter of fact, 14 years ago, the office of the Albanian Prosecutor investigated, over a long period of time, the aforementioned investor, concluding that it was not able to prove any of the wrongdoings for which he was accused.
Allow me to underline also the fact that all the file related to the transfer of Fazllic's private capital is a direct investment while having no links to public tenders or contracts.
In addition, during the last 9 years since my departure from office, if any wrongdoings existed, the Prosecution had all the means to re-investigate the matter, but this never happened due to the simple reason that the first investigation, although thoroughly exhaustive, failed to identify any unlawful action.
Therefore, I would like to ask you if there is any sentence against Mr. Fazllic in your country, and if not, how can the exemplary British jurisprudence and public administration, transfer a fictitious burden of guilt from a subject of Her Majesty to another subject in a sovereign jurisdiction in Albania?
If Fazlic is free from the burden of guilt in your country, how can the guilt of cooperation with him be used in another legal and institutional domain?
Absurd, to say the least.
If your excellency has incriminating facts in relation to your subject, the law abides you to share this evidence with the Albanian and British justice bodies, and not to concede public defamations without any argument.
Using the name of a British citizen, who has never been sentenced in my country nor, to my knowledge, in your country, appears to be prejudicial and absurd, considering also that he has never received any public money from the government I chaired and lastly, that has made important investments in Albania even after my departure from office.
As such, I point out that using a British citizen's name who has never been sentenced in my country and in my knowledge nor in your country, to accuse me of corruption, represents a humiliation for every Albanian and British citizen, for every European, American and for every citizen of the world who believes in the presumption of innocence. A sacred principle since Magna Carta and in all following international human rights conventions, but that you deny to a citizen of your country for the sole purpose of defaming another one.
This represents a severe scandal clearly pinpointing to a corruptive act whose final goal is to extend the ruling of the most corrupted and incriminated government in Europe.
I want to reassure you and the Government of Her Majesty for which I have the greatest esteem, that I won't stop fighting with all my modest means, in convincing Albanians that corruption, organized crime, and vote-buying are the enemies of freedom, democracy, human dignity and of their future.
Your Excellency, I am not elaborating on your political accusation on my links with the crime even though you don't present any fact, because on this, your silence on the dark records of this narco-government emptying Albania faster than war, speaks further and deeper. I want to inform you nevertheless that you are the first official ever who makes such a statement and that even my political adversaries, whose links with organized crime I have denounced and will continue to do so every day, have never issued such an accusation.
I end this letter by addressing my request and urge your Excellency, Ambassador King Smith, and the United Kingdom government, to share with the Albanian or British justice bodies, any evidence, fact or document that you possess or may receive from anyone in the world.