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COURT CLEARS ALBANIAN EX-DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER OF GRAFT Albanian former deputy prime minister Ilir Meta was found not guilty of graft on Monday, clearing the way for his possible return to the ruling coalition in which his party is a minority partner. Corruption and deficiencies in democracy have bedevilled Albania's bid to join the European Union. The Supreme Court cleared Meta of corruption in two government tenders. Meta's SIM party gives Prime Minister Sali Berisha's ruling coalition a majority in parliament. Meta had been accused of telling former Economy Minister and party colleague Dritan Prifti to cancel a tender by state-owned Albpetrol and to award a concession for a hydro-electric plant to a company despite an ongoing court review. Prifti told the court that bribes of 1 million euros ($1.3 million) and 700,000 euros were offered. Prifti secretly recorded the meeting and submitted the tape as evidence. "The Penal College of the Supreme Court decided to declare defendant Ilir Meta not guilty of the penal charge of active corruption... because the fact was not proven to exist," the Court said in a statement. Addressing jubilant supporters after the ruling, Meta said: "The Supreme Court showed that in this country the law and the state will win over organised crime, which had sentenced Ilir Meta and the SIM (Socialist Integration Movement) to death a year ago." Reuters 16/01/2012 |
