FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
In a system where justice was supposed to be the red line, it has become a transparent cloak. Judicial decisions in Albania, if they do not have the "party blessing" or the "clan's approval", are papers that turn yellow in the drawers of institutions.
In a country where justice is reformed more often than governments are changed and where every crisis is covered up with the word "renaissance", the name Fatmir Metaj has become a symbol of the immutability of the rotten system that erodes the foundation of the Albanian state. A functionary with a past that should have closed every public door to him, but who today continues to hold one of the most delicate positions in the Albanian administration: director of the central IKMT in Tirana.
And the big question that arises is, how is it possible that a man with a criminal history, with connections to the pyramid schemes of 1997, with final court sentences, continues to be at the head of an institution that is solely responsible for protecting the territory and enforcing the law?
Many Albanians still remember the dark year of 1997, when thousands of families lost everything due to the massive fraud of pyramid schemes. This is where the dark "journey" of Fatmir Metaj begins, mentioned by former investors and witnesses as one of the field leaders of several fraudulent schemes in the south of the country. According to unofficial data and testimonies mentioned in the media of the time, he was active in managing citizens' money, which then disappeared without a trace, like those responsible themselves.
A decade later, he reappears on the scene, this time as a state official. And not in just any office, but in the IKMT, the institution tasked with combating illegal construction and urban chaos in Albania. Ironic? More tragic.
According to reliable sources, Fatmir Metaj has been convicted several times by Albanian courts. The decisions are clear and irrefutable, a ban on exercising public functions for a certain period. But Metaj is not an ordinary name. He is the “right man” for the wrong system. Court decisions have not stopped him. He continues to command IKMT, sign documents, oversee selective demolitions, and above all, not to implement anything that violates the interests of those who keep him in that chair.
In a system where justice was supposed to be the red line, it has become a transparent cloak. Judicial decisions in Albania, if they do not have the "party blessing" or the "clan's approval", are papers that turn yellow in the drawers of institutions.
Under the leadership of Fatmir Metaj, IKMT has become an institution with frightening selectivity. It does not function on the basis of the law, but on the basis of phone calls and interests and corruption. In the south of the country, from Vlora to Saranda, illegal constructions flourish at a frightening rate. Some are destroyed publicly, for the cameras. Others, those with “verbal permission” from the director, grow floor after floor, as symbols of untouchability, favoritism and corruption.
Many sources on the ground describe the leader as the “silent commander of concrete corruption.” The system of punishing illegal builders does not apply to everyone, but only to those who refuse to play along.
The IKMT, which in theory should be the institution of law enforcement, has in practice turned into an institution of silent bargaining. And at the head of this bargaining is the "old wolf" Fatmir Metaj, who knows no obstacles, no laws, and above all, no shame.
If Albania has any hope for a more honest future, it cannot be built on the foundations that are led by people like Fatmir Metaj. The young people who are emigrating every day are not only leaving unemployment, but also a deep sense of injustice, when they see that people with dark pasts are not only not punished, but are promoted and proudly kept in power by the same structures that talk about morality and reform.
Justice, if it wants to maintain its credibility, cannot turn a blind eye to a case like this. The relevant ministries, control institutions, the prosecution, the Ombudsman, must be held accountable for why a person with criminal convictions and a dark history continues to command such an important institution.
Because in a normal country, a leader convicted of corruption leaves in disgrace. In Albania, he is re-elected with cheers. Fatmir Metaj is not a name. He is a system. And as long as he is in office, no one can seriously talk about fighting corruption./ InfrontAlbania
Lini një Përgjigje