Chairman of the Socialist Party parliamentary group Taulant Balla confirmed to media reporters he has met the former FBI Special Agent Charles McGonigal when the latter visited Albania. Balla said it was an institutional meeting during McGonagigal’s time at the FBI.

Have you ever met the former FBI top-level official Charles McGonigal?

Look, the first thing is that the official came in his capacity as an official of the US government; he was in Albania and of course I met him too. We shared experiences, talked in the function of the excellent relationship between the US and Albanian law-enforcing structures. And when an invitation to meet a representative of this level, from a law-enforcing institution of this level comes, I believe no one would say ‘no’ to such a meeting, in the capacity of that official position.

So, they were formal meetings…

No, they were meetings of a cooperating character as long as he was in office. I have never met him after he left his office.

Was any (US) Embassy representative present in the meeting?

Now, excuse me! First, this is a case for which my response ends here. What I must tell you is that I say to Albanian citizens that there is no case in this story. There is no Albanian authority to be held responsible in this story as long as during the conversation or the meeting it was a conversation totally in function or in the framework of an acquaintance meeting for problematic issues or for sharing experience, because there is no other structure in the world more organized (than FBI) concerning corruption, cyberattacks, and any other crime.