"The rent of the plane he uses reaches up to 15 thousand euros per hour", what do the facts show about Edi Rama's luxury trips

Last night, Iranian hackers published the personal data of Prime Minister Edi Rama, while drawing attention to his trips abroad, mainly by charter.

The majority of these flights take place in 2021, according to data made public on the Homeland Justice Telegram channel.

Prime Minister Edi Rama has responded to Sali Berisha's accusations, according to which he spent 19 million euros on 127 charter trips. According to him, he made private trips at his own expense.

However, this issue is not the first time it has been raised, especially by the opposition.

In February of this year, Edi Rama and the deputy of the Democratic Party, Orjola Pampuri, were involved in a series of accusations and counter-accusations, regarding the expenses for the Prime Minister's trips abroad.

Report.al investigated at that time and brought concrete facts about the expenses of the Prime Minister's trips, where, among other things, it was emphasized that "the rent of the plane that Rama uses reaches up to 15 thousand euros per hour".

" From at least 2020, the expenses for the Prime Minister's trips abroad are covered by the Directorate of Government Services, which has contracted to lease an aircraft. The aircraft of the 'Vip' configuration can accommodate up to 32 passengers.

Even if the expenses from the 'prime minister's fund' are on average smaller than those of the predecessors, this does not mean that the prime minister's expenses for trips abroad in their entirety are small.

On the contrary, the use of the 'charter' plane contracted by 'Air Albania' suggests that they are bigger than what their predecessors allowed themselves. The Directorate of Government Services has repeatedly refused to make transparent the amount spent to organize the Prime Minister's trips and the payments to 'Air Albania', claiming that these are 'confidential' data.

However, they are listed at 15,000 euros per hour. It is unclear how many flight hours Edi Rama has accumulated over the past two years.

Kryeministri pretedon se shpenzimet e udhëtimit gjatë viteve 2020-2021, kohë kur udhëtimet jashtë vendit janë realizuar me aeroplanin ‘charter’ të Air Albania – të cilit i është vënë emri ‘Ismaili’, kanë qenë më të ulëta se mesatarja e viteve të mëparshme.

Ky pohim na jep një ide krahasuese mbi shpenzimet me aeroplanin ‘charter’. Qëndron fakti se vitet 2020 dhe 2021, kanë qenë vite pandemie dhe është e paqartë nëse numri i udhëtimeve jashtë vendit ka qenë më i ulët ose i ngjashëm me vitet e mëparshme.

The Prime Minister has also stated that his highest expenses for trips abroad were realized in 2014 and amount to 4.6 million ALL. This statement contradicts the data of the Treasury's payment database, according to which in 2014, the Council of Ministers spent for the category of expenses "travel abroad" .