Former prime minister Sali Berisha has addressed an open letter to the ambassador of the United Kingdom in Tirana, Sir Alastair King-Smith, regarding his non-grata designation by the country he represents. 

In the letter, Berisha states that he is accused by Great Britain of favouring the businessman Damir Fazlliç, a British citizen who has not been convicted either in Tirana or in London, even though investigations have been carried out against him. 

The former prime minister calls the non-grata designation a corrupt decision aimed at prolonging the stay in power of a corrupt government and invites him to send any facts they may have against him to the court. 

Full letter:

Open letter to the Ambassador of the United Kingdom in Tirana, Sir Alastair King-Smith. 

Your Excellency! 

Yesterday, the embassy of the United Kingdom in Tirana, which you lead, reacted to my statement about being declared non grata by the authorities of your country. In the absence of facts, instead of public apology, this reaction defends the vulgar slander of the letter in the name of the interior secretary, in which I am accused of corruption, that is, the use of power to enrich myself and my circle, for which you have not behaved and you will never be able to bring any proof and fact for the simple reason that they do not exist. 

The only concrete thing that is mentioned in that letter about corruption is the British citizen Damir Fazlic, my former electoral adviser in the BGR team in the 2005 elections, whom, according to the letter, I have enriched and protected when incriminating evidence is presented against him. 

In fact, 14 years ago, the Albanian prosecutor's office investigated the entrepreneur in question for a long time, drawing the conclusion that they had not been able to prove any of the violations alleged against him. Let me emphasize that the whole story is related to the bringing of private capital to Fazlic for direct investment, and not in connection with tenders or public contracts. In addition, during the 9 years since I left the government, if there had been a violation, the prosecution had the opportunity to investigate again, but such a thing was never done due to the simple fact that the first investigation, although complete and deepened, did not find anything illegal. 

Therefore, I would like to ask you, is Mr. Fazlic convicted, and if not, how can British jurisprudence transfer the burden of guilt from a subject of Her Majesty, to a subject of a sovereign jurisdiction like that of Albania? 

If Fazlic is free from the burden of guilt in your country, how can the guilt of cooperating with him be used in another legal and institutional domain?! Absurd, to say the least!

If Your Excellency has incriminating evidence for your citizen, the law obliges you to send it to the Albanian or English justice and not to make public defamation without bringing any argument. 

I find it tendentious and absurd to use for accusations against me the name of a British citizen who has never been convicted in my country, and to my knowledge, nor in your country, and who has never benefited a cent from my government, and moreover, after my departure from power, he continued to make important investments in Albania. 

In this case, you point out that the use of the name of a British citizen who has never been convicted in my country and to my knowledge, nor in your country, to accuse me of corruption, is an insult to every Albanian, every Briton, every European, every American and every citizen of the world who believes in the presumption of innocence, this principle sanctioned by the Magna Carta, and after it, in all other international human rights documents but which you deny a citizen of your country with the purpose of slandering another person. 

This constitutes a serious scandal and a truly corrupt act whose ultimate goal is to prolong the days of the most corrupt and incriminated government in Europe. On this occasion, I want to assure you and the government of Her Majesty, whom I deeply respect, that with all my modest possibilities, I will not stop fighting to convince Albanians that corruption, organized crime and sales of voting are enemies of freedom, democracy, dignity and their future. 

Your Excellency, I am not stopping to comment on your political accusation about my ties to crime without bringing any facts because your silence about the darkest records of the narco-government that is bringing Albania down more and faster than a war. But, I inform you that you are the first official in the world to say such a thing and that such accusations have never been articulated even by my opponents, whose connections with organized crime I have denounced and continue to denounce. I denounce them every day. 

I close this letter with my prayer and request for Your Excellency, Ambassador King-Smith and the UK government, that any evidence, fact or document that you have or that you can obtain from anyone in the world, be presented to the Albanian or British courts. 

Sincerely, Sali Berisha