The Socialist Party declared that the 2.5 billion lek earned during ast year by the Minister of Economy Dritan Prifti constitute a flagrant case of corruption. The situation becomes even more alarming if one bears in mind that the year in which the Minister of the Economy earmed the 2.5 billion lek has also been the most difficult year in economic terms for Albanian families.

The Socialist Party dismissed the claims of the minister that he earned the 1.8 million euros from selling his shares in a private company, since he had not declared his ownership of the company in his previous declaration of wealth. Socialist MPs accused minister Prifti of corruption and declared that it is unacceptable for a minister to earn similar sums in a year, which above all has been a year of a difficult economic crisis and severe hardship for Albanian families.

The Socialist Party declared that in a year when life has become unaffordable as a consequence of the rise in princes of energy, food, medicine and everything else, when unemployment is on the rise and when Albanian businesses are encountering growing financial and economic difficulties, it is shameful for a minister to declare that he has earned 1.8 million euros from the sale of a ghost company, which had no registered economic activity.

During the debates in Parliament, Socialist MPs once again asked Prifti to give explanations concerning his wealth. MP Eltar Deda declared that the sum of 1.8 million euros had been paid to the Minister of the Economy by a pharmaceutical company, Megafarm, which is owned by a close relative of Prifti’s colleague in the Socialist Movement for Integration and Minister of Health, Petrit Vasili.

Deda also declared that the fact that Megafarm has won millions of euros in tenders during last year from the Ministry of Health as well as the fact that the owner of Megafarm has paid 1.8 million euros to Prifti, raise suspicions of government corruption among the ministers of the SMI.

The Socialist Party continued to denounce this case during the past week and has declared that it will see it through to the end. It also asked the justice institutions to react by inevstigating the wealth of Prifti, warning that failure to start an investigation on this case would constitute the clearest proof of state capture and the degradation of the justice system in Albania.