Democratic Party Chairman Sali Berisha accused Premier Edi Rama of destroying the State Intelligence Service (SHISH). Berisha was asked by media reporters in his weekly news conference about the appointment of Rama’s former adviser Oljan Kanushi as the new SHISH Director. The former Albanian Premier said Kanushi is damaging the Service after dissolving two of the most important sectors, the anti-terror and anti-drugs.

“Dissolving the anti-drugs unit and transferring the top officer of counterterrorism in total conflict of interest were among first acts of the new director. Kanushi’s wife’s first grade relative was Al Bagdadi’s soldier with ISIS”, said Berisha.

“Of course, his wife and he are not responsible for the cousin, because he didn’t ask them before joining ISIS. But the problem stands with the person that investigated the case successfully, leading to the tracking and disbanding of the group of ISIS fighters, for which the Service has undisputable merits. That person was transferred from the headquarters to a province. This is a revenge act. The director summoned and terrorized two or three female officers because they had searched on internet to see who his father-in-law is, after they learned about his wife’s cousin story. He was furious and asked the ‘Why did you search about my father-in-law?’”

“So, you see what kind of boss he (Rama) sent to them. This is very damaging because SHISH is a very important institution for our national security and all the importance lies in the cooperation with partner countries. Terrorism is not something fictitious, it is major threat to peace, stability and order of the free countries, but the director dissolves the section”.

Berisha added that Rama fired former Director Helidon Bendo “because he tracked Charles McGonigal and naturally did his job” adding that the institutions are now incriminated.