07 July 2008 Tirana _ The head of Miami-based company AEY, suspected of a murky arms deals with Albanian officials to ship Chinese-made ammunition to the Afghan army is expected to plead guilty.

“The 22-year-old arms dealer will plead guilty to charges that he defrauded the U.S. government by shipping Chinese-made ammunition to Afghanistan and then trying to hide its country of origin from military officials,” the Associated Press reports.

Four officials from AYE, a US-based arms firm accused of shady deals with Albanian officials in supplying the Afghan army, have been arrested on fraud charges.

Efraim Diveroli, AYE’s chief, David Packouz, Alexander Podrizki and Ralph Merrill were indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami on wide-ranging fraud charges in connection to supplying ammunition to the Afghan army, announced R. Alexander Acosta, the US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida

“The indictment alleges that the defendants submitted documents to the Army falsely attesting that the ammunition they provided was manufactured in Albania, when, in fact, the ammunition came from China,” said Acosta in a statement.

“To effectuate the scheme, defendants Diveroli, Packouz and Podrizki directed others to assist in the packaging of ammunition to be delivered to Afghanistan and provided instructions to remove Chinese markings from containers to conceal that the ammunition was manufactured in China,” the statement adds.

Indicted under 71 counts, if convicted the defendants could get 500 year jail terms if found guilty of all charges.

Albanian leaders are suspected of profiting from the murky arms deal with AYE whose contract with the US Army has been suspended.

The row erupted after the New York Times published an article on March 28 accusing Albanian officials of murky deals with the Miami-based Pentagon contractor. The company, had its contract with the US military revoked amid claims by the paper it was supplying decades-old ammunition to the Afghan army.

It is alleged Tirana and AEY used a third company, Cyprus-based Evdin Ltd., a company subcontracted by Albania’s trading giant, MEICO, to coordinate the deal between the Albanian military and AEY.

The New York Times alleges the Head of MEICO, Ylli Pinari, doubled the real price of the munitions and pocketed the difference which was shared among Albanian politicians.

“Such accusations should be used for toilet paper,” Prime Minister Sali Berisha argued when questioned about the paper’s allegation in parliament.

Albania’s general prosecutor Ina Rama has opened an investigation into the arms trafficking case.

http://balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/11626/