TIRANA, September 16 – Distancing himself and the Democratic Party (DP) from the Russian funding of 500,000 dollars in which former DP chairman Lulzim Basha is rumored to be involved, former Prime Minister Sali Berisha admitted that he was deceived by his predecessor.
DP chairman Berisha said in Friday’s press conference that former American ambassador Donald Lu had left the file on his desk in 2018, but the only document inside it was the article published on the “Mother Jones” portal.
“Asked by me, Lulzim Basha said that the money paid to Nick Muzin is money collected in accordance with the rules in the Albanian Diaspora in the US and that the article has nothing true. Between the newspaper article and Basha’s explanation, I believed the latter’s version,” Berisha said.
Doubts about a possible involvement of Basha in this matter, he said, arose only after the verifications. Berisha said that he had suspected Basha when the Albanians of Diaspora had informed him. “I didn’t talk about the Russian file until I had information. When I received the notifications, I realized that he had cheated me.”
Avoiding any comment on the fate that awaits Basha in the Democratic Party, Berisha hinted that sanctions are expected against the former chairman after the audit and publication in the media of the meetings that Basha, according to him, had with the Russian ambassador. “Responsibility is individual. The money has not passed from the party coffers. Basha has taken all the documents with him, but the party must rely on investigations,” said Berisha. /Argumentum.al
