OLAF Director General Giovanni Kessler’s resignation has strengthened the perception about Ms. Vlahutin’s image as corrupt and a fanatic political defender of Premier Edi Rama and his ministers.

The behavior and attitude of Ambassador Vlahutin have damaged seriously the image of the European Commission office in Tirana and also of the high and medium level officials in Brussels that cover Albania, not excluding Ms. Mogherini in person. This public perception of Ms. Vlahutin’s corruption, of her suspicious ties with Rama and ministers of his cabinet, and for the network that keeps and defends her in Brussels in based upon several arguments.

First, Ms. Vlahutin has held a clear preferential attitude pro Rama’s government, hiding in her reports the corruption of the high officials in Rama’s cabinet and the public administration and by not sending for nearly three years no information about cannabis cultivation and the traffic of strong drugs.

Second, Ms. Vlahutin’s perception as corrupt comes from the purchase of the villa in a VIP area in Tirana for a price of 1.6 million Euros, nearly three times the actual price in that area. The arguments given by Ms. Vlahutin and the passive attitude of the anti-fraud office in Brussels have only increased the negative perception of Ms. Vlahutin as corrupt and also for her corruptive ties with top brass in Brussels.

Third, Ms. Vlahutin is seen as politically bond to Rama and ministers of his cabinet and she’s attacked in the media outlets and social media as compromised with corruption and cannabis money from Rama’s government. There are suspicions in the social media not only about her appointment but also for her protection, making one think they come not only as a wish of Rama’s government but also as a collusion of certain officials that are seen as corrupt in Brussels and in a client-like and political bond among them, going as far as Ms. Mogherini’s name.

Fourth, Kessler’s resignation, now accused of corruption and well-known for his defense of the corruptive case of villa’s purchase is an uncontestable proof of everything that is said and talked about in Tirana for Ms. Vlahutin personally and her ties to Kessler, which is thought to go up to Ms. Mogherini.

Keeping Vlahutin in the EC office in Tirana has damaged seriously its functioning and first of all the activity of its chief in an EU-candidate country. The Albanian opposition has gone as far as asking for Vlahutin’s exclusion from its meetings with high representatives of Brussels.

All that is not simply a position of the opposition or Rama’s enemies, as the PM is trying to present it in meetings with high officials in Brussels. This is an almost general opinion that exists in the majority of the Corpse Diplomatic of the EU member countries and also of many officials of the office in Tirana led by Vlahutin, which have not expressed it publically but have included it in their reports to their chancelleries.

Syri.net