The American example of 'McGonigal' and the Albanian silence of SPAK

Alfred Lela

 

Two sentences carry the most information in Washington's indictment and the plea deal signed by Charles McGonigal.

First, McGonigal maintained an ongoing relationship with the Prime Minister of Albania.

The second: from the prime minister's office came the data on the investigation of the American DP lobbyist.

Their repetition in both documents of American justice says enough for SPAK to start investigating the case for Albanian officials, just as the American one did for itself. The investigation and the guilt of only one of the actors in the file speak volumes, and SPAK will have to face the pressure of public opinion.

For the first question, SPAK must look for factual clues, and there is no need to stop at the curious formulation: why was the prime minister of a country meeting with a former CIA agent who, after registering with the CKB of a company, had clear beneficial intentions?

For the second question, SPAK is condemned to investigate because we are dealing with an apparent involvement of officials close to the prime minister in acts that exceed their constitutional duties or powers.

SPAK should remember that Mark Rossini, one of the partners of MCGonigal's Law Offices and Investigation company (opened in Tirana), has been punished and expelled from the FBI for the fact that he took some materials from the Bureau's database, which he then passed on to a private detective who the US government sued.

Have the prime minister's officials trafficked data over which they have no control? Or are they classified? Or should they transfer from other institutions?

How long do such questions circulate as dilemmas for many actors and spectators of public developments in the country but not for the prosecutors of the Republic? The new American justice only has the support but not the practice.

The issue should be raised urgently in the Parliament of Albania. The US Congress is already engaged in the search for other answers. The American lawmaker's antennae have been raised even more after the former FBI agent's guilty plea in both cases. Americans are rightly concerned about pro-Russian espionage, but no less burdened should be the Albanian legislator for the involvement of the Prime Minister's office, the launch of an investigation into the Democratic Party on political-clientelist impulses, and the frightening access of Charles McGonigal and A. Neze with ministers and senior Albanian officials.

Like the Prosecution's investigation, neither the parliamentary one favors the majority, but what bothers them if the majority has nothing to hide? Non-compromising is an excellent way to invalidate all accusations publicly in parliament and SPAK. Obstructive maneuvers do nothing but prove involvement in an affair that, in another country, has been investigated and punished.

If there is no trial in Tirana, the American prosecution and sentence will remain valid for the government and SPAK.