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The statement from the US Treasury Department said that organized crime continues to be a significant threat in Albania.
Former MP of the Party, “Justice, Integrity and Unity,” Aqif Rakipi, and the owner of the media “Ora TV,” Ylli Ndroqi, were announced on Monday, (11.04) “persona non grata” by the Office of the US Treasury Department on Foreign Assets Control for “corruption, blackmail, misappropriation of property, bribery and participation in organized crime.” The US government imposed economic sanctions on them and barred them from entering the US, along with their families. A statement from the US Treasury Department said, “Organized crime continues to be a significant threat to Albania.” “Criminal actors continue to have an impact on Albanian politics by using money and violence to channel support towards their preferred candidates,” the statement said.
Aqif Rakipi was expelled from parliament in 2018 from the implementation of the decriminalization law, while Ylli Ndroqi, the Albanian government seized assets in 2020 and 2021 for previous criminal activities. With the declaration “non grata” of the former MP Rakipi and the businessman Ndroqi, the number of persons in Albania in the black list of the American government has reached 6. Before them were declared such former Prime Minister Berisha, former Chief Prosecutor of Albania, Adriatik, Llalla, former Social Democratic Party MP Tom Doshi and former Socialist Mayor of Durres, Vangjush Dako.
Threats to the stability and European integration of the region
The announcement “non grata” of former MP Rakipi and businessman Ndroqi was made in the framework of US government sanctions in the Western Balkans (WB) for “persons who threaten the stability of the region through corruption, criminal activity and other destabilizing behavior”, it is emphasized. in the statement of the US Treasury Office for the control of Foreign Assets. Along with former MP Rakipi and businessman Ndroqi, 5 former senior officials and public figures in other Balkan countries were declared “non grata” on Monday, including the former Prime Minister of Northern Macedonia, Nikola Gruevski. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, in his reaction on social media to the above-mentioned decision of the US government, states that “the US and Great Britain are holding accountable those who threaten the stability, progress and European integration of the region. “The decision reinforces the Treasury’s commitment to promoting accountability for actors involved in destabilizing and corrupt practices in the PB region, which undermine the rule of law, economic growth and deny people in these countries opportunities and stability.”
On the US government scanner
In the statement of the Office of the US Treasury Department for the Control of Foreign Assets, the former MP Aqif Rakipi, in the district of Elbasan, is described as “having a harmful and destabilizing impact on the political processes in Albania. Numerous organized crime groups in Albania have offered money, gifts or promises of jobs or concessions in exchange for votes for their favorite political party. Rakipi has long been involved in organized crime and is closely linked to organized crime groups within which he has exercised political influence, including corruption. He has used his political influence to appoint his friends to key public posts in Elbasan and Tirana. “Rakipi lost his mandate as a member of the Albanian parliament after prosecutors confirmed his role in criminal activities under a pseudonym.”
The above-mentioned statement calls former MP Rakipi “responsible or collaborator for direct or indirect involvement in corruption in BP in connection with an official of one of the BP governments, current or former, including the misuse of public assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, political purposes or bribery. ”
For businessman Ylli Ndroqi, the US government states that he “used the former media under his control to extort and blackmail Albanian citizens through demands for money and advertising purchases in exchange for banning the publication of negative stories in the media.” He has demanded bribes on behalf of an entity seeking to do business in Albania. Ndroqi is responsible for or complicit in direct or indirect involvement in corruption in BP including direct or indirect corruption in connection with a government in BP, or with a current or former government official in BP, such as abuse of public assets, expropriation of private assets for personal gain, political purposes or bribery ”./ DW
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