Looting presented as 'intellectual crime'

Alfred Lela

First, the myth that parts of the media, political commentators, and politicians have built for SPAK as an organization with the sword of justice and infallibility must be ignored. There is some overwhelming evidence that contradicts this. SPAK should not be 'sanctified' like the cow in India, an animal that roams the streets with fewer restrictions than people and cars. If cows in India obstruct the view and traffic, a view of SPAK as 'the irreproachable' clouds the logic.

So, let SPAK, like any other institution, be criticized and seen as fallible.

Part of the construction of the myth of SPAK, among the most important, has been the television polls where the Special Prosecutor's Office "shines" with about 70 percent of the confidence of Albanians.

While this may be the case, the first question must be: why do people trust SPAK because they see justice done or because the spectacle, entertainment, and 'blood' amuse them? So, if some people are being punished and imprisoned in the country - how good, oh, what fun we had! - is justice being served? Widespread approval of SPAK punishments is like the bloody gladiatorial matches of ancient Rome, where the people demanded punishment with a thumbs down or forgiveness with a thumbs up.

It is, therefore, a participation in lynching rather than balancing the scales of justice.

It is not only the logical line connecting or separating things that overturns the 70 percent approval for SPAK—first of all as amateurism—but also the very 'language' and 'body language' of SPAK chief Dumani.

In the confrontation with the deputies in the institution's annual report on activity, Mr. Dumani did not behave for a moment as the head of a 'party' that has 70 percent but as if he did not represent more than 0.7 percent. There may be an explanation of the type in this case: he has no public experience and is intimidated by the big stage, while those in front of him have a decade or two in political conflict.

It's not because body language is dictated by internal 'codes,' not external influences, and Duman's facial expression was not that of a struggling novice but of a complex one or someone embarrassed when what he says and does contradict each other. When asked about Berisha's arrest, the incinerators, and the 'red line,' the head of SPAK conveyed this contradiction.

In this way, he contradicted even the 'friendly' polls.

Whatever the 'popular belief' about SPAK, the truth is simple: the Special Prosecutor's Office has not yet 'blown up' any significant economic and political corruption issues. He treated them, yes; exhausted them, no.

Hiding failure behind the expression that 'crime is intellectual' and, as such, sophisticated and challenging to detect is an insult (not to the people, but to the public). Thicker thefts than those of the socialist decade have not been remembered in Albania since 1913 when several foreign armies and hundreds of gangs of local robbers invaded the country.

Robbery is not an 'intellectual crime'; in the eyes of everyone, it is a taking by force, accompanied by the warning: don't open your mouth!

The reasons for not opening the mouth can also be found in the spasms in Mr. Dumani's body language.