Speech of Prime Minister Edi Rama at the signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation in the fight against tax evasion and informality:

I will start where Attorney General brought the most significant example. A similar agreement was made in a certain period of time to fight informality, if we can call it so, but which was in fact the theft in the sector of distribution and electricity.

I have to say that precisely the close cooperation between the institutions involved, in that case the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Interior and the General Prosecutor’s Office, has been the basis of indisputable success of that operation.

We managed to do what even the most optimistic didn’t have the courage to imagine as feasible; the radical transformation of the relationship between electricity consumers and the administrators of this national asset.

Today we are in completely different conditions. We have a power distribution company that is recovering very quickly, thanks to a drastic reduction of non-technical losses, which means losses that are a result of a collective theft of power, and thanks to parallel a transformation of the entire administration system throughout the company.

Today, we have a sector of production and distribution of electricity to consumers that does not require money anymore from the state budget, but that can produce income with which it has started healing the wound of terrible debts within the power system. Heavy debts and large exposure towards banks, accumulated over the years by the state-owned manufacturing company, by the transmission company, and of course by the distribution company itself.

This is a very significant success that makes us understand that where there’s a state building will, nothing can become an objective obstacle. Barriers raised have been continuously subjective, have been the result of a completely wrong approach of governments to the problems of the country, and to totally blind policies, in relation to citizens, the public interest and the country’s future.

But in that operation which, as we stated from the beginning, was an action that would turn on and off as a brushfire like it used to do in the past, but continues to burn still to this day – the key has been the close cooperation between the State Police and the Prosecution.

For this I want to express the gratitude and respect to the Attorney General, who very firmly implement all the commitments made in the Memorandum of Cooperation, and I am convinced that the same will happen with this memorandum that will be signed today.

Of course, the operation against theft in the electricity sector would have been even more effective, even more spectacular in terms of results, had an unfortunately not small part of the efforts concretely materialized with evidence of the police and of the prosecution not been trampled by corrupt judges. Who, instead of enforcing the law, preferred and continue to prefer the respective bribery and release thieves caught red-handed.

I am convinced that the same awaits us in this operation. I am convinced that in this operation as well we will have face not only those who commit tax evasion and will be detained for the offense of evasion or concealment of tax liabilities, but also corrupt judges who make evasion on a daily basis with the laws of our Republic. Unfortunately, this is always for us a battle within the battle. It is always for us a wake-up call that we hear every day about the necessity of judicial reform, and the necessity of transforming the country’s courts in structures delivering justice, rather than trading the rights of people or companies.

I will bring to your attention the fact that what is happening in this very first period of this radical operation against informality is significant enough to understand that in this respect the effort hasn’t changed its essence. The winner must be the working Albania, the Albania paying regularly its obligations, and the Albania that wins by respecting the law.

This battle must be won by all those who in the morning open the shutters of their commercial activity and respect the law and the area of their activity. Those who earn, but do not benefit at the expense of citizens and society. This is not a battle against business, against the enterprise or against the weak. We have been told and retold the same thing, and we will be retold the same in this operation, that we are hitting those who do not have bread. Because it has become fashionable to talk about the lack of bread, by those who have their stomach, whether physically or metaphorically, filled with the iniquities of the past. But this is part of the whole, and it does not impress us. What impresses us is that those who start a venture In Albania thanks to their ideas, talent, thanks to their will and determination, must not be exposed to the jackals who do not respect the law, who distort competition, and act as the tough ones in front of or next to activities that are within all the limits of the law.

The Albania that works, the Albania pays duties, and the Albania that deserves to have back those dues in the form of investment in nurseries, kindergartens, schools, salaries for pensions, for tax cuts, is much greater than the Albania who steals, the Albania that deceives, the Albania that benefits at the expense of a majority who rightly demands and will rightly have all our support.

This operation will go to the core.

This operation, which in appearance takes place at the doors of commercial units in every city, will target in fact the heart of evasion that are large companies, which are major distributors, which are the biggest evaders

The reason why we are now at the doors of every activity in all urban areas of the country is very simple. It is because they are the end points of a chain of evasion that has its origins in the large companies. They are points where this great evasion is downloaded, and the points where the blocking of the whole evasion canal begins.

Undoubtedly, the core of this memorandum aims at what the Minister of Interior underlined, so that the strong co-operation between the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Interior and the Prosecutor General will lead to the identification and stopping of large evaders, first of all, and in combating financial that hasn’t been touched in Albania for over 20 years.

We are very determined to carry forward this struggle. We are very determined to face all the challenges that this battle has, though the top challenge remains the final confrontation with corrupt judges. But one thing is certain, no judge should think justice will be delayed forever. Justice might be delayed, but it does not forget. Be assured that justice will not forget those who with the judge’s gavel violate every day the rights of individuals, the rights of communities and the society’s fundamental right to be free and liberated once and for all from the clutches theft, corruption, and economic and financial crime, which have found their nest under the armpit of the judges of this country, and continue operating undisturbed. Thanks once again to the Attorney General who is here with us. Surely that cooperation referred to in the paragraphs of this memorandum will give us the outcomes that citizens of this country deserve. It will enable us to return to citizens as soon as possible in the form of tax cuts, salary increase and more investments, the income added by this real war of economy face to the phenomenon of informality. Therefore, citizens should be aware that every tax receipt received is a direct contribution to get back the money that is in that tax receipt, money that belongs to the community, to the elderly, to children, who deserve to have it back in the form of investments.

When we buy, we buy as individuals, but when we get the tax receipt, we contribute as citizens to get back as citizens what have invested as individuals for our coexistence and its quality.

Thank you very much!

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As part of the operation against informal economy, a Memorandum of Cooperation in the fight against tax evasion and informality was signed today the Hall of Maps among three institutions, the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Interior and the Prosecutor General.

Through this agreement, the institutions and their levels of cooperation agree on a permanent cooperation platform, in view of the financial investigation.

The agreement was signed by the Minister of Finance Shkelqim Cani, the Minister of Interior Saimir Tahiri, and the Attorney General Adriatic Lala.