Albania Hit by Video Corruption Scandal

“Following the broadcast of a tape by the investigative program ‘Fiks Fare’ on Top-Channel TV, the Tirana’s Prosecutor's Office has launched a criminal investigation on counts of passive and active corruption of high state officials and abuse of power,” said the office of the general prosecutor Ina Rama in a statement.

The statement added that the prosecutors would sequester the tape as evidence for the ongoing investigation.

The transcripts of the videotape, the authenticity of which has not been verified, allegedly show Meta asking the former Minister of Economy Dritan Prifti to intervene over a hydropower plant concession tender, naming an alleged recompense by a businessman of a seven per cent stake and €700,000 bribe.

Meta also allegedly asks Prifti to hire activists of their party, the Socialist Movement for Integration, LSI. The LSI is the junior government partner in the government of Prime Minister Sali Berisha, and controls the ministries of economy, foreign affairs and health.  

Although it only holds four parliamentary seats, the LSI came out as the kingmaker in the 2009 parliamentary elections, which were narrowly won by Berisha's right-wing Democratic Party.

Meta, who is the LSI head and at the time of the recording served as deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, also allegedly brags in the videotape about influencing a Supreme Court trial over the same hydro-power plant concession,.

Meta is overheard saying that because he is on good terms with Chief Justice Shpresa Becaj after having hired her daughter as a diplomat at an embassy, he can influence the decision of the court. He then asks Prifti to keep the affair quiet because he is afraid the prosecutor's office might open an investigation if it learns about it.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Meta denied any wrongdoing and said that he was “intervening in the name of a business because after an Appeals Court ruling in favor of the company, it was being stalled by the ministry of economy,” then headed by Prifti.

He added that the video was “a disgusting political bluff that was made by organised crime as blackmail against me”.

The tape, which is of poor quality, was allegedly shot in Prifti’s office by the former minister, who was dismissed in September over disagreements with Meta.

After his dismissal, Prifti alleged that he had received threats against his life during his time in office. Meta later left his post as minister of foreign affairs later and took over the ministry of economy.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Prifti said that the original tape was authentic, in his possession and that he would give a copy to prosecutors and to all the international institutions that monitor Albania.