Baze, Taci & ARMO

Gary Kokalari, Stamboll 2006
Opinion by Gary Kokalari, opinion nga Gari Kokalari (English/anglisht)
Gary Kokalari
10 November 2009

Nga Gary Kokalari*

*Gary Kokalari është aktivist i diasporës shqiptare. Ndonëse opinioni i tij është në anglisht, duke iu kërkuar ndjesë atyre që nuk e flasin këtë gjuhë, ne po e botojmë këtë shkrim duke patur prasysh që ai përbënë një këndvështrim të veçantë si¸ësht¸e ai i një amerikano-shqiptari. Tribuna Shqipatre

The news of the savage attack on newspaper editor Mero Baze by Rezart Taci and his “bodyguards” marked a sad day in the history of Albania’s democracy. This is because this heinous act was a direct assault on the most fundamental principal of democracy - freedom of speech. Although it’s a positive development that Taci has been arrested, it is easy to have doubts that he will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law when one considers his ties to the Berisha family and Berisha’s past attempts to undermine other investigations, like those of his capos Lulzim Basha and Fatmir Mediu.

But there could be a silver lining to this cloud. With the arrest of Taci - which would not have occurred without the massive international pressure placed on Sali Berisha - the opportunity now exists for the prosecutor to re-open the book on the ARMO deal and Taci’s dealings with the Berisha family. However, if there is any hope of accomplishing this objective the US and EU must continue to apply pressure on the Albanian government to avoid any predictable attempts by Berisha to try to bury the whole affair under a rug. It is encouraging that Ambassador Withers* spoke in a highly critical manner about this vulgar act during his conference with Albanian journalists that included Mero Baze, but the Ambassador should know by now that in Albania issues like this often end up sinking into the sand unless there is continuing focus on the problem by American and European interests.

Below are several messages I distributed in 2008 about ARMO.  Patton Boggs, a well known Washington law firm, advised the Albanian government with respect to the ARMO privatization.   When the original tender process for ARMO was concluded, as many will recall, Jude Kearney, an attorney with Patton Boggs, appeared in an interview in Tirana that was televised on Voice of America in which he declared that the bidding for ARMO was transparent.  At that time Refinery Associates of Texas, a relatively obscure American company, was announced as the successful bidder.  Yet somehow, between the time of Mr. Kearney’s talk of transparency  and the closing of the deal, it appears ARMO ended up under the control of Rezart Taci.  Based on what just happened to Mero Baze, in my opinion, Taci looks to be just another Deligjorji type thug who takes orders from Sali Berisha. I find it more than an odd coincidence that Milhal Deligjori and Rezart Taci are both clients of Argita Berisha’s law firm.**

Taci’s attack on Baze now raises numerous questions.  Why hasn’t there been an outcry over ARMO landing in Taci’s hands?  How much was actually paid for ARMO and what was the source of financing?   In addition to the cost of the acquisition, the winning bidder was supposed to invest an additional $250 million to improve ARMO’s operations.  Has Taci made any of the required investments?  I asked many of these questions at the time the ARMO deal was done, but to my knowledge they remain unanswered.  In my opinion, the whole ARMO tender process should be investigated, and if there were any improprieties or if Taci has failed to live up to the terms of the agreement, then ARMO should be ripped from his hands and re-tendered.  But this time there should be a truly transparent tender process that avoids any possible conflicts of interest with Berisha family members or the Meta/Prifti mafia.  Speaking of Dritan Prifti, what is behind his efforts to get the tax collector off of Taci’s back?  Do Prifti and Ilir Meta expect anything from Taci for this “accommodation?”  How have Meta and Prifti financed their exorbitant lifestyles? As I have offered in the past, I would be more than happy to offer my services gratis to provide consultation on these matters.

The previous attempts by friends of Berisha to censor Mero Baze and other journalists, including one from The New York Times, were all designed to stop criticism of the Berisha government through various forms of intimidation.  Unfortunately, members of the media have complicity in this regard because many have remained silent in the face of these attempts to prevent open criticism of Berisha and his friends.   Hopefully, the attack on Mero will serve as a wake up call in Albania so that more journalists will be willing to stand up and express their true opinions without fear of retribution from the government.

If the Berisha government has allowed the likes of Rezart Taci to grab assets of the state, then helps him to avoid paying taxes and then attempts to physically silence any of his critics it has a closer resemblance to a mafia enterprise than a democratic government working for the people.  If the international community and the prosecutor’s office fail to give Taci’s actions the full scrutiny they deserve, then they will share responsibility for allowing Albania to take a disturbing step backward in time.

I remind everyone that Kosta Trebicka served as the whistle blower on the illegal AEY arms deal (as reported in a front page article in The New York Times  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/world/asia/27ammo.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=aey%20and%20trebicka&st=cse   ) that resulted in the conviction of three Americans by the Department of Justice for defrauding the U.S. government.   Kosta was killed in a suspicious “car accident” on a remote road in Albania, and many, including this writer, believe he was silenced forever for speaking out against the Berisha government.   Given Taci’s aggression against Mero Baze, it’s easy for me to imagine that Taci-like thugs with ties to Sali Berisha know more about the fate of Kosta Trebicka than has been told.

GQK

*Ambassador Withers’ remarks:  http://tirana.usembassy.gov/09pr_1106.html

** Note: Argita Berisha is the daughter of Sali Berisha.  Milhal Deligjorji operated the Gerdec plant that was demilitarizing ammunition when an explosion occurred that led to the tragic death of 26 people and he is now in jail pending trial for murder charges related to Gerdec.  Deligjorji was also the person who replaced Kosta Trebicka for the contract to repackage the AK-47 ammunition that was sold to the U.S. government by AEY.  According to claims Kosta Trebicka made to me and the recordings he made of comments by AEY’s President (who has since been convicted of fraud by the U.S. government), the Berisha government pressured AEY to fire Kosta and replace him with Deligjorji.  One of the workers form the Gerdec plant informed me that after the AK47 ammunition was removed from the original Chinese marked metal canisters at Rinas airport, he assisted in unloaded trucks that brought the empty canisters to Gerdec.   At the time of the Gerdec explosion, The New York Times was getting ready to publish the front page story about the AEY deal.  Kosta Trebicka died in a mysterious “car accident” several months later on a remote road in Albania.  You can draw your own conclusions.

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My August 26, 2008 message to Patton Boggs:

August 26, 2008

Mr. Jude Kearney

Partner

Patton Boggs LLP

2550 M Street, NW
Washington, DC  20037

Dear Mr. Kearney:

The report below from the International Herald Tribune indicates the Albanian government “signed a contract” for the sale of ARMO after negotiating the terms of the deal.  What does this mean?  Has the deal closed or not?   I am writing to request that you clarify the status of the transaction.  ………………………

http://tribunashqiptare.com/print.php?a=2910

Çështja “Baze”, letërkëmbimi Taçi-Withers

Biznesmeni: Deklaratat tuaja më dëmtuan. Ambasadori: Letra juaj më habit

According to an AP report about a UN report released last Thursday about crime in the Balkans (  http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hb7aJHGOQd4YCTWF8hWeO8dsIa7QD90VEJT80    ),  “Albania has the worst crime in the region and remains the ’soft underbelly’ of the Balkans for mafia rings.”  The AP report also stated, “Costa (Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime) warned that organized crime - and its links to politicians and business - continues to pose serious challenges in several Balkan nations.”  There should be no doubt that the primary Balkan nation she is referring to is Albania - a client of Patton Boggs.

If possible, it would be appreciated if you could respond to this message as well a my email messages to you of May 26 and May 30, 2008.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Gary Q. Kokalari

My May 28, 2008 message:

FYI - Below is my letter to Patton Boggs, the Washington law firm that served as advisor to the Albanian government for the privatization of ARMO, Albania’s state-owned oil refining company.  Also, this link contains info on Refinery Associates of Texas, the winning bidder, which is reported to have completed several supply contracts with DOD   http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/company/cnm71322.htm (including one displacing Halliburton for the  supply of oil to U.S. Army Corp of Engineers in Iraq).   From what I can ascertain, it seems that RAT is primarily an oil brokerage firm, but I couldn’t find information that indicates it has operating experience withrefining facilities.  One could surmise that there’s a pattern emerging of companies that have just a handful of employees (AEY, RAT) yet have been awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts by both the Pentagon and the Albanian government.

I Agree With Fatos Nano (English)

29 May 2009

Duplicate entry ‘0′ for key 1

By Gery KokalariAlthough I still believe that Fatos Nano is a repugnant and degenerate human being, I must say that we agree on something.   When Fatos Nano was secretly recorded during a conversation at the Rogner Hotel, he referred to Sali Berisha as an “animal.”  Considering Berisha’s unending stream of dirty deeds, I am in complete agreement with Nano’s bestial de scri ption of Berisha.  Many Albanians, including this writer, believe Berisha gave orders to have several of his enemies murdered.  One such person was Kosta Trebicka.  Even if Kosta’s death was disputed by an American “expert” who was not qualified to determine his cause of death, there is something we know for a fact:  one of Berisha’s most evil acts was that he lied his way into power with his promise of a ”clean hands” government.  Then, once he grasped the reigns of power, he quickly forgot his empty promises and immediately reverted to his communist, corrupt, dictatorial ways by plundering state assets from the people of Albania, blatantly undermining free speech and then trying to cover up his crimes by manipulating the political system to replace the rule of the law.  Then, to add insult to injury, he has had the audacity to help his children feed themselves like pigs at the trough. Enver Berisha also promised to clean up the telecom sector - another of his big lies.  Instead, he figured out ways to profit from telecom businesses.   He also took advantage of the privatization of various other state assets.  Instead of cleaning up corruption - as he promised the people of Albania during the 2005 campaign - he has served as the poster child for corrupt practices. Now, Berisha and Mediu want to claim all the glory for Albania’s membership in NATO.  As much as I believe Albania’s membership in NATO is a positive thing, I disagreed when Albania put the lives of young Albanian men on the line in Iraq and Afghanistan because I knew both Nano and Berisha were using this as a way to advance their own interests with President Bush.  That being said, this was one of reasons the U.S. strongly supported Albania’s NATO bid.  But I’d like to let Berisha and Mediu in on a little secret - they didn’t initiate this policy  - it was Fatos Nano who did!  Berisha and Mediu just followed up on Nano’s actions to show they could kiss the American bythe as well as Fatos.   At the end of the day, it’s the people of Albania who are most responsible for acceptance by NATO.  This is because neither Nano nor Berisha would have been able to use Albanian soldiers like pawns without the strong admiration that exists among Albanians for America.   http://tribunashqiptare.com/news/117/ARTICLE/2286/2009-05-29.html Dieser Eintrag wurde am 19.11.2009 um 17:28 verfasst und befindet sich in Economy - Wirtschaft, Balkan (Englisch), Balkan. Sie können alle Antworten zu diesem Eintrag über den Feed RSS 2.0 mitverfolgen. Hinterlassen Sie eine Antwort oder einen Trackback-Link zu Ihrer eigenen Homepage. | Drucken Antwort schreiben Sie müssen als angemeldet sein, um einen Kommentar schreiben zu können. 1&1 Blog - powered by WordPress