Related to the 'Sinaloa' cartel, Rama denies knowing Luftar Hysa; attacks the Italian journalist when he talks about Olsi Rama

In an interview with the Italian journalist Giorgio Mottola, Rama denied knowing Luftar Hysa, the Albanian businessman linked to the Sinaloa cartel. For RAI3, Rama said that he did not know Hysa and that he knew nothing about the concession that he had been given to "Valona Construction", a shell company of Hysa.

Although in October 2020, together with Besnik Lulaj, the owner of Marina Bay in Vlorë, they visited the office of Prime Minister Edi Rama in the company of the German MP of the CDU-CSU, Mark Hauptmann and Dorian Dučkës, who at that time was an adviser to to the Prime Minister for investments from abroad.

The Prime Minister neither accepted nor refused to cancel the concession contract to Hysa. As for his brother Olsi Rama, the prime minister said that they were already facing charges in court.

INTERVIEW:

Rai3: However, I am a journalist and I interview criminals and non-criminals, while you, as prime minister, should not meet with criminals.

KM: I don't date criminals, okay? This is offensive.

Rai3: So, distance yourself from Luftar Hysa?

KM: I don't even know who it is, okay? I don't even know who it is. I have met people, I repeat, many people, Albanians who come and go, who want to meet, see, with friends and others. They are told, "okay, come, what are you going to do, how are you going to do it", etc. However, the fact that a person even in the government or a person who comes from abroad, comes out tomorrow who is rotten does not make me responsible for meeting him or meeting someone else. So this is how you become a dirty, dirty journalist because...

Rai3: No, it's not dirty, because now I'm going to ask you this question. Now that you know who Luftar Hysa is, will you cancel his casino concession? Will you revoke the permit for Valona Construction, which, according to the Canadian authorities, is Hysa's shell company?

KM: Sorry, first of all, I neither give nor cancel concessions or whatever.

Rai3: You have a state post.

KM: I'm sorry, but I'm not the state, I'm the Prime Minister. The state has its own structures, it has its own administration, because it is as I said before. So the Italian criminal, who has been sentenced here to 17 years, has gone to court about a problem, which he says was created by us while he was laundering money, and he used a word of mine, posted on Twitter, after he was expressed the prosecution, as pressure against the freedom of the press. So, it is necessary to go through the judicial way, through the institutional way for every subject, for everything, because investigations are one thing, judicial processes are another thing, final decisions from the courts are something else and if you go out with a sword and talk bag, then finds himself in very uncomfortable situations from the state's point of view.

Rai3: Pra, duke qenë se keni dhënë një koncesion, keni nisur hetim për këtë shoqëri?

KM:  Ju po më thoni një gjë që vetëm tani e marr vesh, se po ma thoni ju, se as nuk jam në dijeni të kësaj gjëje. Jua përsëris, edhe njëherë, ne, shteti shqiptar nuk jep koncesione, nuk u jep leje, nuk iu jep asgjë kriminelëve. Pastaj, nëse ndokush del se është një person që duhet të përgjigjet përpara drejtësisë për afera, siç ndodh në Itali çdo muaj, ju nuk do ta merrnit kurrë guximin të thoshit, “atëherë, për këtë, kryeministrja italiane që është takuar me atë njeri, është një kriminele”

Rai3: Po, po, kur më pas zbulohet se ka një hetim ndërkombëtar, pezullohet aktiviteti i këtyre shoqërive tregtare, nëse dyshohen si mafioze, që do të thotë se, nëse janë mafioze, nuk ka nevojë as për proces gjyqësor.

KM: Edhe njëherë, se po i shtojmë fjalë...

Rai3: Jo nuk dua të shtoj gjë.

KM: ... për këtë. Ju po përpiqeni ta çoni intervistën në drejtimin që doni, që do të thotë, të vazhdoni të këmbëngulni te emisioni i mëparshëm, që këtu ka një histori kriminelësh, një histori personazhesh të errëta e kështu me radhë.

Rai3: Nëse kryeministrja italiane do të takohej me njeriun që pastron paratë për kartelet meksikane, do i bëja pyetje të përsëritura breshëri vetëm për këtë aspekt.

KM: E kuptoj.

Rai3: Kështu që, nuk ka të bëjë me ju e me Shqipërinë.

KM: E kuptoj, por po jua përsëris. Unë nuk kam takuar asnjë pastrues të asnjë lloj paraje të asnjë pale. Unë jam takuar me shqiptarë, të cilët kanë ardhur tek unë, më kanë thënë që kishin synim të zhvillonin diçka dhe iu kam thënë: “Bëni si të doni, ligji dhe rrugët janë të qarta”. Dhe nuk me duket që ndokush të ketë përftuar ndonjë gjë si favor. Pastaj, nëse del se dikush është i bërë pis, atëherë, këtu ka ligje. Është sekuestrimi, është një gjë a një tjetër. Po është krejt ndryshe, domethënë nuk vjen prej meje.  Është drejtësia, është...)

Rai3: Ne kemi përmendur edhe vëllain tuaj, Olsi Rama...

KM: Që është një tjetër ndërhyrje e neveritshme në jetën e dikujt që nuk ka asnjë lidhje, në jetën e dikujt që akuzohet vetëm se është im vëlla, sepse fakti nuk ekziston. Po ashtu, ai ka ngritur edhe padi dhe tani shpresoj që edhe kjo gjë do të sqarohet nga prokuroria e posaçme. Po, e kuptoni? Ju jeni shërbimi publik italian, nuk jeni një kanal shqiptar që bën si të dojë, sepse, në fund të fundit, të flasësh për të tilla gjëra të thuash që, i vëllai, aaa është akuzuar… I akuzuar nga kush, i akuzuar për çfarë? Pastaj, ku janë provat? Pastaj, këto “prova”, janë tani, shpresoj nën hetim.

Rai3: Di që është rihapur hetimi pas emisionit.

KM: Janë nën hetim, pasi ai ka paraqitur padi për shpifje, kështu që këtu i duhet lënë në dorë drejtësisë. Por t’i marrësh gjëra të tilla e të formosh një mozaik me copëza që janë të gjitha gjysmë të vërteta. Janë të gjitha gjysmë të vërteta dhe për këtë arsye gjysmë të vërtetat janë gënjeshtrat më të mëdha, mashtrimet më të mëdha.

Rai3: Listen, you have an excellent relationship with Xorxha Meloni. You had excellent relations with all the prime ministers, especially Massimo D'Alema.

KM: Yes.

Rai3: Massimo D'Alema, is an adviser of yours, you appointed him as an adviser.

KM: No, I did not appoint him as an advisor, because I would not allow myself to appoint him as an advisor. He is a mentor.

 Rai3: Ah, it's a mentor

KM: Yes. He is one of the greatest statesmen, in my opinion, after the Cold War, and he is one of the most beautiful minds I have ever met. To enjoy his friendship is, for me, a great medal of honor.

Rai3: Even D'Alema has come to Albania to do business.

KM: What trade? What has he done?

Rai3: It has set up a lobbying company.

KM: What about trade?!

Rai3: AEI

KM: Unbelievable! I never talked about business with Massimo D'Aleman. I always talked about politics, I always talked about Albania, I always talked about... Then, he is free to do whatever he wants. Well to always present these things like this!

Rai3: Yes, he founded a lobbying company. D'Alema has a lobbying firm in Italy and has founded one here as well. AEI is called.

KM: AEI

Rai3: AEI is called.

KM: I know he works for Ernst & Young in Italy.

Rai3: There is a lobbying society in Italy as well.

KM: And it's not a lobbying company.

Rai3: No, he has his own lobbying company in Italy.

KM: I am not aware of any lobbying societies, but I would ask you to leave Massimo D'Alema out of this mud swim we are doing together.

Rai3: It's not swimming in the mud, because a former partner of his, Consulcesi.

KM: Who is it?

Rai3: Consulcesi, which has opened a training company.

KM: Whose ex-partner?

Rai3: D'Alema's

KM: Yeah, I don't know...

Rai3: Massimo Tortorella. You participated in 2019 together with D'Alema in the inauguration of this company, of this subsidiary in Tirana, which, even in Italy, has three hundred to four hundred employees.

KM: And then?

Rai3: In that case, the Minister of Health declared professional training mandatory for doctors, in order to exercise their profession.

KM: Unbelievable! Unbelievable!

Rai3: Why?

KM: Unbelievable! We want, we wanted to use an Italian excellence, to carry out a training process, let's say, to increase the skills in our health sector and this turns into a problem?

Rai3: No, it's not a problem. It's just a circumstance that makes me curious, that Massimo D'Alema's former partner opens a company here, and this company, at the moment it opens, has a decision that somehow favors him, even in relation to other entities….

KM: And then what happened?

Rai3: I don't know, that's why I'm asking you.

KM: I'm sorry, but nothing happened. I'm sorry, it was supposed to happen, but it didn't.