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The Constitutional Court rejected the opposition's request to establish a parliamentary investigative commission on the McGonigal affair, closing one of the main fronts in the political battle against Prime Minister Edi Rama. While the Socialists avoid a parliamentary investigation into the dossier that has roiled Albanian politics for years, the Constitutional Court gave the green light to the investigative commission for the May 11 elections.
After more than two years of debates, accusations and political clashes over Prime Minister Edi Rama's ties to former FBI official Charles McGonigal, the Constitutional Court has closed one of the main fronts of the opposition's battle, rejecting the request to establish a parliamentary investigative commission on the McGonigal case. Meanwhile, the constitutional judges have accepted the opposition's request for an investigative commission on the May 11 parliamentary elections.
The decision is a political blow to the Democratic Party, which for years has considered the McGonigal dossier one of the strongest arguments against Prime Minister Rama. The opposition has repeatedly claimed that parliament should investigate reports that Albanian officials, including the prime minister himself, had with the former FBI agent, who was convicted in the US of concealing financial relations and violating federal regulations.
With today's decision, the issue seems to have lost one of its last opportunities to be institutionally addressed in the Assembly. Meanwhile, the file continues to gather dust in SPAK.
The McGonigal dossier has been one of the hottest topics of political debate in Albania for years. The former senior FBI official's name returned to the spotlight after US justice documents revealed his ties to Albanian-American businessman Agron Neza and the contacts he had developed with Prime Minister Edi Rama during visits to Albania.
Rama himself has publicly admitted to meeting McGonigal, but has denied any involvement in the violations for which he was investigated and subsequently convicted in the US.
However, the opposition has insisted that the relationship between them went beyond a formal meeting. The Chairman of the DP Parliamentary Group, Gazment Bardhi, declared before the Constitutional Court that there are strong indications that justify the establishment of an investigative commission.
" American official McGonigal has benefited from a tender. After he benefited because he was a friend of the prime minister, he was then used as a figurehead in the fight against the opposition. We don't say it, but American justice says this ," Bardhi said.
Even the legal advisor of the Democratic parliamentary group, Marash Logu, argued that the request was not related to the investigation of McGonigal, but to verifying the behavior of Albanian officials in relation to him.
" The establishment of an Investigative Commission has been requested to verify and control the implementation of the law by Albanian officials in the reports they have had with former American agent Charles McGonigal. We have highlighted the relations that the prime minister or other officials have had with this agent ," Logu declared.
But the Constitutional Court did not accept this argument, leaving out of the Assembly a parliamentary investigation that the opposition considered a priority.
The situation was different with the request for the May 11 elections. The Constitutional Court granted the opposition the right to establish an investigative commission that will examine allegations of the use of state resources during the electoral campaign, an issue also raised in the preliminary reports of international observers.
For the opposition, this is a partial victory. For the majority, meanwhile, the decision on McGonigal closes a chapter that has produced ongoing political tensions since 2023. / Pamphlet
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