Government corruption Rama: European Commission suspends funds for agriculture

Portal “Oligarchia.al” reports that the European Commission has suspended grants for Albanian agriculture from the programme I PARD, due to corruption and the failure to comply with legal procedures from the AZHBR in their distribution.

Letters from the European Commission's Agriculture and Rural Development Directorate have reached several institutions, including the Ministry of Agriculture, Finance, AZHBR, the State Agency of the Strategic Programme and Assistant Co-ordination of Ilir Beqjas.

“not to allow further misuse of funds and to protect the interests of European Union taxpayers, we announced that we have decided to suspend the programme's remaining distribution IPARD for Albania until Albanian authorities meet all conditions and shortcomings recorded” Written in Wolfgang Burtscher, DG Director General AGRI, Directorate for Agriculture and Rural Development in the European Union.

The EU's decision to cut agricultural funds for Albania comes after an OLAF investigation, the European Union's Anti-Corruption Office. The investigation, launched two and a half years ago, has revealed that Albanian authorities, A, respectively. The EBRD, they have not respected legal procedures in distributing grants to farmers, causing a large portion of the funds to be stolen.

Sources from the European Union delegation told Oligarkia.al that OLAF has identified several cases when money has been granted for ghost investments that do not exist at all.