The former British Ambassador to Albania, Duncan Norman has warned of sanctions against corrupt Albanian officials in a statement given to local media.
Norman who held the post of ambassador until 2021 and now heads up a special project fighting corruption and organised crime, said the aim is to sever the link between crime and politics.
“What we do know is that Albanian organized crime groups have a major impact in the UK. We have difficulty catching these groups, and one of the reasons is that they have political support,” he told News24.
He added that the project will work with Albanian authorities, the justice system, SPAK and the National Bureau of Investigation, as well as civil society and investigative journalists.
On the topic of sanctions, he said the government has “some options to use”, for example, the law related to immigration.
“There are procedures that exclude some people from entering the UK, but we also have other ways of freezing assets for those people who maintain such links between politics and organised crime.”
Norman added, “We can do that, but that would just be part of the story. We want that big part of the story where we make fundamental changes.”
When pressed for names, Norman refused and said “the UK operates differently and we try to keep the action off the stage”.
He did warn however that action will happen in the coming months.
On the subject of the declaration of ex-president and prime minister Sali Berisha as persona non-grata by the US State Department over allegations of serious corruption, Normal said, “It is up to Albanians to decide who should lead political parties.”
He noted that leaders should maintain “the highest ethical and professional standards.”
“I want to say that internationals find it difficult to work with any figure who does not have those ethical and professional standards,” he continued.
When asked how he perceives Prime Minister Edi Rama’s government, now he is not ambassador, Norman said, “There are positive things they have done, but there are some other things we would probably like to see done in a completely different way than they have done.”
