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OP-ED

Dako-Tahiri as Rama's 'back tango' with the Americans

Politiko 2023-06-07 15:07:01

Dako-Tahiri as Rama's 'back tango' with the Americans

Alfred Lela

Vangjush Dako is, in a sense, like Fredi Beleri. Both have been arrested on charges which can automatically be taken as accurate, so the principle of 'innocent until proven guilty' can be violated. Why? Because it is difficult to fill the mind of an Albanian, stripped of the political partisan within himself, that mayors do not give building permissions in violation of the law or that candidates for deputies or mayors would say no to the opportunity to add a handful of votes using any trick for this, including legal offense.

Another thing that unites the two cases is the illustration of the functioning of Albanian justice and the influence of Prime Minister Rama on it.

It was Rama who "produced" Beleri's arrest. Although he did not give the order, he implied and signaled it. The prime minister's rude language, threatening to the extent of 'I will deal with them,' for two alleged collaborators of Beleri, produced, 2-3 hours after his statements on a TV show, the arrest of the opposition candidate for Himara municipality.

Rama also "produced" Dako's arrest through actions or inactions. The prime minister did not order it but "softened" the arrest of his friend, the former mayor, by "producing" for him the most lenient of charges, abuse of office. Corruption and electoral crimes have been in the mouth of the opposition and articulation in the media or informal and formal circles for years. In this sense, it is suitable for Dako to have friends in high places. Especially if you remember that, what a lucky coincidence, both accusations against him are about ten years old, meaning they can be classified as 'statute of limitations.'

If anyone finds the thesis that Rama protects and/or abandons his stale, a logical explanation of the Dako case might work. The former mayor of Durrës, arrested with the mildest charges in the prosecutorial repertoire, is an excellent opportunity to kill the next big event: the release of former minister Tahiri, who has served less than half of a shortened sentence. He too, what a coincidence!, for abuse of office.

On another level, Rama has to please the Americans - by giving Dako and taking Tahiri - who reacted immediately and strongly after the release of the former minister. In any case, Rama is successfully using justice for his political purposes, and the illusion of the Americans that they could find in him a worthy partner to free the balance of power and attack corruption must have finally been buried.

What Rama is doing, not without success and the help of an American naivete, is to use his subordinates as exhaust valves. With this, he pleases the Americans (temporarily), creates the illusion that justice is working, and increases his political profile by conveying to the people that under his power, the bad guys get sent to jail. When they commit crimes, it is without the knowledge of the 'Commander.' So much is he disturbed that the circles under his eyes are deep and nasty like lunar craters.

Rama succeeds, and it must be said that this is where his control over justice is proven. He is using the child of Albania's most expensive and harsh reform as a triple instrument against the opposition, against the sponsors (Americans and Europeans), and the people. This would be impossible without internal coordination, and this cooperation does not result from monetary or spiritual corruption but from a project. Rama and the heads of the new justice agree to cooperate, even without speaking, because they are shareholders in the same project.

As for the Americans, I'm sorry to say, they enjoy any 'abuse of duty,' just as the 'sheriffs' in Chicago enjoyed Al Capone's conviction for tax evasion. They know that corruption in Albania is not a matter of abuse of power but much more than that. But, they are captured by the impotence of the powerful. The one who can't shout about things that don't work because he participated in their making.