The State Department has so far declined to comment on the growing corruption crisis engulfing the Balkan country of Albania, a crucial US ally in the region.
Following an Albanian court’s decision to remove Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku from her post over allegations that she interfered in two construction bids, Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama referred the issue to the country’s Constitutional Court, which reinstated Balluku on Friday until a “final decision” could be made, according to media reports.
The Special Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime Structure (SPAK) issued a criminal complaint against Balluku on October 31, claiming it was unduly influenced in its decision to favor one company in a tender to build a 6.7-kilometer tunnel in southern Albania, Reuters reported. SPAK filed an additional charge for violating rules at a road construction project in Tirana on November 21, the date Balluku was removed from office.
The day before her court appearance in November, Balluku told the country’s parliament that the allegations against her amounted to “mud-slinging, innuendo, half-truths and lies”.
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Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama, right, and Deputy Prime Minister of Albania and Minister of Infrastructure and Energy Belinda Balluku, left, attend a press conference in the Shpirag region of Berat Province, Albania, August 23, 2023. (Albanian Prime Minister/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
As the second member of Rama’s cabinet to face corruption charges since 2023, her accusations have angered Rama opponents.
Tirana’s ex-ambassador to Washington argued that “influencing the Constitutional Court may be an attempt to set a protective precedent – one that could be useful if investigators ever try to implicate Mr. Rama himself in their investigations.”
“It is becoming increasingly clear that the emperor has no clothes,” Nesho said, adding that Rama’s rule amounted to “state capture” as the “lack of checks and balances has enabled a recurring system of corruption in several of his terms in office.”
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A group of protesters gather in front of the Prime Minister’s office in Tirana, Albania, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama following the arrest of Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj on corruption charges on February 11, 2025. (Olsi Shehu/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Nesho also claimed that Balluku had hinted at broader Rama government involvement in decision-making. Former Deputy Prime Minister Arben Ahmetaj, who reportedly went on the run after coming under the SPAK investigation, has also claimed that Rama “directed all major decisions on procurement, finance and public assets”, according to Nesho’s claims.
Ahmetaj’s accusations include accusations that Rama is involved with mafia bosses. Rama responded to these insinuations by saying that Ahmetaj “should not be taken seriously. Albanian politics is not contaminated by the mafia. Balkanweb reports this.
The US has funded judicial reform efforts in Albania to support efforts to join the European Union by reducing corruption. However, these reforms have led to legal backlogs, causing public frustration and violence.
Nesho said: “It is difficult to understand how a government that behaves like a banana republic obtains accession to the EU.” He said: “Albania is a living contradiction in terms of law and order.”
While Nesho says Rama’s opposition has been “decimated by ‘justice practices’ and the compromise of legal institutions,” Rama remains in office despite “documented corruption scandals worth billions of dollars, documented election thefts over multiple voting cycles, and, most disturbingly, documented ties to international drug cartels like the Sinaloa Cartel.”
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People gather during a demonstration in Tirana, the capital of Albania, in support of former Prime Minister Sali Berisha, who was under house arrest on corruption charges from December 2023 to November 2024 and is under judicial supervision by the Albanian Special Court of Appeal for Corruption and Organized Crime. (Olsi Shehu/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Allegations that Rama has ties to the Sinaloa cartel emerged after the prime minister met with Sinaloa-linked Luftar Hysa, which is sanctioned by the US Treasury Department. Rama told an Albanian news channel that he had met Hysa only once.
With the removal of Balluku, Nesho says that “public anger is not only directed at [her] but also against the irresponsible behavior of a regime that governs without accountability, abuses public property and finances and faces no consequences despite society’s response.”
Nesho said many in the country have nicknamed the prime minister “Ramaduro,” and that this is “a direct comparison to Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.”
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