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| Former Minister of Defense Fatmir Mediu after leaving SPAK offices |
In Albania, the Special Prosecutor's Office announced today that it has brought to trial the case of former Minister of Defense Fatmir Mediu, for the explosion that occurred in Gërdec 15 years ago, while announcing that it has registered another criminal case, with suspicions of "Corruption ” and “Money laundering” in the case of the procedures followed at that time by the Ministry of Defense for the sale of ammunition to two foreign companies. But there are no accused in the case yet, VOA reports.
The request of the Special Prosecutor's Office to bring the former Minister of Defense Fatmir Mediu to trial for the Gërdec explosion in 2008, where 26 people lost their lives, including children, and the subsequent investigations into this case, seem to have opened another track. Shells and other munitions in the wreckage of the dismantling factory revealed at the time a trading affair of Chinese-made cartridges, which were repackaged to end up in Afghanistan. All through a contract with the company "Evdin" ltd, based in Cyprus, which served as an intermediary between the Albanian Ministry of Defense and the American company "AEY", which was run by two inexperienced young men who had won a contract with The Pentagon.
The Special Prosecutor's Office announced today that, regarding this ammunition trade, "the preliminary investigations have not been completed" and a new criminal proceeding has been registered for "Passive corruption of high state officials or local elected officials" and "Cleaning of products of the criminal offense or criminal activity".
It is not known what new elements have been discovered that have led the Special Prosecutor's Office to register a criminal proceeding for a case that never went to the end, and where many high-level people were involved. Among them, among the most prominent, was the name of Shkëlzen Berisha, the son of former Prime Minister Sali Berisha. At that time, he was never questioned, but he publicly denied any connection with the case, as he did two weeks ago, after leaving the Special Prosecutor's Office.
It also remains to be seen whether or not the former Minister of Defense Fatmir Mediu is affected by this investigation, who meanwhile, 15 years after the explosion in Gërdec, is expected to face a jury for the first time on this matter. The Special Prosecutor's Office, which requested the reopening of the case almost two years ago, has filed two charges against him, "Abuse of duty" carried out in cooperation, and "Abuse of duty" in cooperation with a military subject-command cadre. We are talking about the same charges that the General Prosecutor's Office brought against him in 2009, but for which Mr. Mediu was never tried since in the summer of that year he regained the mandate of the deputy.
The Special Prosecutor's Office accuses him of issuing several by-laws in violation of the law, damaging the legitimate interests of the state, and bringing unfair advantages to the two private companies involved in the dismantling process. Mr. Mediu rejected the accusations and stated that he was not offered the opportunity for a fair legal process.
Even in the reaction to today's decision, Mr. Mediu stated that "the reopening of this case and then the continuation of the so-called investigations carried out by SPAK, are acts completely contrary to the criminal procedural law as well as to the facts and evidence". He emphasized that "charging the minister with criminal responsibility, for issues that are clearly beyond his competence and knowledge even as a minister, is in complete contradiction with the law".