Britain warns new penalties for Albania: Next week there will be waves of sanctions

He said that the purpose of such penalties is not merely individuals but the accountability of those who are involved in corruption and money laundering.

There's nothing personal here about how I and others act. The British government follows the approach in principle, so we have our policies and we apply them in the right way, according to our laws, the rule of law in the United Kingdom and beyond. As for elections and this relates to previous elections and future elections, in a democratic system, usually after a significant loss of elections, the leaders analyse the implications, what citizens are saying, and political parties should think about what the implications are for them, so that there is a democracy update after these elections. So we will promote ways to refresh democracy in Albania, which can be really successful for the future. As I said earlier, we want to see a strong and effective opposition that keeps the government accountable and that may be a reliable alternative to future governance. When it comes to sanctions and actions that must be taken for those we judge are involved in criminal activities and corruption, again we pursue a balanced approach. This does not target any individual, as Lord Peach clearly determined, when he announced the first wave of sanctions in July last year, they opposed a host of individuals. As you know, when it comes to restrictions on entry into the UK, as in this case, we do not declare names, so not everyone has made their involvement in this wave of sanctions public. But, as I said before, there will be other wave of sanctions against those involved in criminal activities and corruption”, the ambassador stressed.

The United Kingdom diplomat, in front of journalist Sokol Balla, said the second wave of penalties could begin next week, and based on this, the names of punished persons will be made public.

There will be other wave of sanctions and you should see this overall. My forecast, as I publicly expressed it and earlier, is that this year we will see further sanctions, the second wave may come in the coming weeks; this will be decided by London, and there is a possibility that there will be public sanctions, so not just bans on entry into the UK, where names are not made public. So if done under the category of World Anti-Corruption Sanctions, these names will be made public and there will also be a travel ban, ban on entering the United Kingdom, and seizures on any assets they have in the United Kingdom. These names will become public. As I said, these decisions have not been made yet because they are taken by the leaders of the British government, so we need to see what will happen in the coming weeks”, he said.