Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama took the witness stand on Wednesday to testify on the incinerator affair at the Inquiry Commission.
PM Rama urged the inquiry commission to stay within its jurisdiction and not act as a court.
“The Commission cannot file criminal charges nor act as a court. You have done this repeatedly”, claimed Rama.
The head of the executive reiterated his support for the work of this commission and said his attendance will hopefully help to reveal the truth, but asked not to call the process an “affair”.
“You broke the law as you used the term affair. I am not here to expose any affairs. The term is being based on your opinion. I am not here to discuss that”, said Rama.
Rama emphasized that he recognizes and refers to Lefter Koka as the environment minister, and not as a beneficiary of the contracts signed for the incinerators.
Koka served as environment minister in PM Rama’s cabinet from 2013 to 2017.
The former minister is accused of abuse of office and was arrested by SPAK over the incinerator affair.
PM Rama said Koka is being accused of acts that he took upon independently which have no connection to the government.
“The former minister is not accused of any government decisions, or a grand government affair. He stands accused on a corruptive act that he committed personally”.
The European Union criticized the construction of the incinerators in the last three progress reports, referring to them as the least preferred alternative for handling waste.
PM Rama responded that the EU sorts out the waste first and then recycles it, but Albania opted for another method.
“We did not build incinerators, but waste processing plants that generate energy”, said Rama during his testimony.
He added that the country decided to process the waste and produce energy out of it, a practice also used by Sweden and Denmark.
PM Rama maintained that only the Elbasan and Fier incinerators were built with state funds, but not that of Tirana.
“The funding is part of a plan to provide the entire country with the waste collection service”, Rama said.
Rama dismissed opposition claims that the state had paid over €400 million to build the incinerators.
“€30.6 million were paid by the state budget for the Elbasan incinerator and €24.7 million for the one in Fier. That totals €55.3 million and this is where this question gets answered. Where did you find the €100 million figure? Where are documents proving that? We need to have the same evidence”.
He underlined that the €100 million figure is a “fantasy” of the chair of the inquiry commission.
“One of the reasons I’ve been so keen to follow this commission is to find out how they came to figure out this €430 million figure. The claim that the state paid €100 million is simply a fantasy of yours”, Rama said.
More to follow …
