Crime Revelations Force Albanian Officials to Quit

The logistics director in the port of Durres, Fisnik Myrtezaj, a recent appointment by the centre-left government of Edi Rama, resigned on Monday following accusations that he had a criminal record for drug trafficking.  

On Sunday, the opposition Democratic Party said Myrtezaj had been jailed in 2011 for three and half years for the crime.

“[Prime Minister] Edi Rama has entrusted the services in the port of Durres to a person who in 2011 was sentenced for cocaine trafficking,” the Democratic Party spokesperson, Laura Vorspi, said.

According to the media, Myrtezaj wrote in his resignation letter that "the accusations against him were politically motivated”.

His resignation follows the dismissal of two other officials over the last two weeks, following revelations that they had criminal records.

Last week, Prime Minister Rama was forced to sack the food safety chief, Aleksander Kalemaj, after it emerged that in 2012 he had been arrested for selling home-made alcohol.

The head of the employment office in the town of Kavaja also resigned after the opposition revealed the he was the target of an arrest warrant, for trafficking in contraband cigarettes.

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