"The Scandal with Bankers as Incinerators"/ Bushati: Corrupt state collaboration!

Journalist and analyst Andi Bushati commented on the "Bankers Petroleum" issue this Friday. 

Invited to SYRI TV, Bushati compared the case to the incinerator scandal, emphasizing that we are not dealing with tax evasion, but with a form of deliberate collaboration between the company and state officials.

"You can't give away a fortune and wait two decades without getting anything in return. This shows, at a minimum, that it's not a matter of tax evasion, but of Bankers' collaboration with state officials who were supposed to control it. It's more or less similar to the story of the incinerators," Bushati declared.

He stressed that, as in the case of the incinerators, the lack of state control was intentional. “There was no official to check how it was being done, how the work had progressed, or where the money had ended up. They pretended not to see what was happening,” Bushati said.

According to him, it is not about negligence, but about a conscious corrupt act by the state: "This is not simply a story of fiscal evasion. It is a story of corruption by the state, which has consciously allowed this theft."

Bushati warned that the more this matter is investigated, the more dark truths will come to light. He also recalled an episode from several years ago, where former prosecutor Adriatik Llalla had accused US Ambassador Donald Lu of obstructing the investigation into "Bankers".

"Ambassador Lu is one of those we call the fathers of justice reform. But, in fact, those we consider the fathers of this reform have been the reason for the theft to continue here," Bushati added.

He continued by emphasizing that the "Bankers" case is an example of how the dark threads of the Albanian state intertwine with diplomacy, with the relationship between the private sector and the public, and with a captured system, where institutions that should protect the public interest use power for personal gain.

"You can't give away a fortune and wait 2 decades without getting anything in return, this shows, at a minimum, that it's not a matter of tax evasion but rather a matter of Bankers' collaboration with state officials who should have controlled it, it's more or less similar to the story of the incinerator."

Since there was no incinerator and no official who had the duty to control how it was being done, how the works were going, where the money was going, he pretended not to see what was happening;
And in this sense, this is not simply a story of tax evasion, it is a story of corruption by the state which has consciously allowed this theft.

The more we dig, the more dark things will come out of this story.

If you remember, a few years ago there was a debate, where former prosecutor Adriatik Llalla accused Ambassador Donald Lu of obstructing the investigation into Bankers.
American Ambassador Donald Lu is one of those we call the fathers of our justice reform.

"So those we consider the fathers of justice reform have been the reason for the theft to continue here.
That is why I say that the story of Bankers is a story that intertwines all the dark threads not only of the Albanian state but the way diplomats have been corrupted, the way it functions in a society caught in a private relationship with the public, where the public or those who should protect the public interest never do their duty but use the public position to enrich themselves," said Bushati.