Flash News
Morning mail/ With 2 lines: What was important yesterday in Albania
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Abazovic speaks: Why did Montenegro vote against Kosovo in the Council of Europe
After Berber's arrest, Rama appoints a new director in charge of the Albanian Road Authority
An apartment on 'Zogu i Parë' boulevard in Tirana is engulfed in flames
Yuri Kim informed about the Rama-McGonigal meetings? Doubts raised by the 'New York Times'
The involvement of the former FBI official, Charles McGonigal, in the scandal of corruption and cooperation with the Russian oligarch Deripaska, brought out the name of Prime Minister Edi Rama, as a close friend and with strong ties to the former official.
The American media 'New York Times' has brought new details from the Rama-McGonigal connection. The NYT writes that McGonigal's willingness to meet with the head of state in Albania, a country where there is an American diplomatic presence, shows that McGonigal was not keeping his meeting a secret from his colleagues.
In this case, the NYT refers precisely to the American embassy in Tirana and Ambassador Yuri Kim, who has not yet made a reaction to Rama's involvement in the former official's scandal.
From the indictment, it appears that McGonigal used the FBI e-mail address as well as the phone, for issues related to Albania.
But whatever official pretext McGonigal might have had for those trips and associations might also have served as a cover for more questionable activities.
The fact that the alleged crimes occurred shortly before his retirement indicates that McGonigal may have begun or increased his illegal activities after taking the final polygraph tests, which are supposed to be administered every five years.
Holden Triplett, a former FBI official who took part in the counterintelligence mission to China, says that someone of McGonigal's standing betraying the agency for $225,000, if proven, would be surprising given that former -officials can earn substantial amounts as consultants after retirement, in addition to hefty pensions.