The British ambassador raises the alarm, reveals that crime has strong ties with politics in Albania and warns of another list of "non gratas"

The British ambassador in Tirana, Alastair King Smith, has made a strong statement. While he was invited to a television studio, he emphasized that crime in Albania is related to politics and this is one of the problems between Albania and England. He even stated that crime is an international problem and what Albania should do is to commit to weakening these ties so that we can have free and fair elections. "I agree that it is a problem. The way politics, crime and business are connected is everyone's problem. Therefore, crime is an international phenomenon, and we must commit our forces to redouble efforts and people must see and make sure that these ties are weakened and that we have free and fair elections and politics that represents the people", he declared. Next Ambassador Alastair King Smith. King Smith said that we expect to have a layering of accountability on an international scale for all law breakers. Asked if there will be a declaration of "non grata" for the British state, Ambassador King Smith emphasized that there will be. He even added that it will not matter what job or role they will have as long as those people are connected to crime and corruption. "As I mentioned before, we will see what other actions we will take both in Albania and in the region, also globally because we think that accountability is important and if we can have a stratification of accountability at scale international. The United Kingdom, like other countries, will take steps to confiscate assets and we await the decisions this year... It doesn't matter what job or role one has. If they are related to crime and corruption, politicians, businessmen or others, they can be specified", he said. Meanwhile, the ambassador of Great Britain Alastair King-Smith indicated that during the visit of the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in London, it was agreed on the transfer of a category of Albanian prisoners from British prisons to Albanian ones. According to him, this also applies to those who are awaiting bail, to be given the opportunity to return to Albania. "The two prime ministers agreed to ensure the proper conditions of the prisons. The two prime ministers agreed in principle to carry out the fastest possible transfer of those classified under the law to be moved from British prisons to Albanian ones. Of course, this will be better for them to be as close to their families as possible. This also applies to those who are awaiting bail, to be given the opportunity to return to Albania. Here we are only talking about Albanian citizens and according to the general parameters of the agreement, we have not identified any other citizenship than the Albanian one at the moment", underlined the British ambassador.