Former Albanian interior minister Saimir Tahiri, investigated and then acquitted for of drug trafficking charges, has emerged today that is hiring e US lobbing group to clear his name with the “political and intelligence community in the United States”.
Radio Free Europe agency reported that data from the US Justice Department show that he has engaged Stone Strategic Solutions company to communicate with members of the United States Congress, the State Department, the Department of Justice and the Intelligence community, regarding his resignation from government and issues that relate to his legal battle in Albania”.
The report is published based on provisions of the Foreign Agent Registration Act which makes mandatory reporting on such forms of lobbying. The documents also state that the company will be working to counter “campaigns of false information and false allegations in the media, targeted at Tahiri.”
It was hired by Tahiri on 14 of January 2020 for a three month period, with an option to extend. The cost of this contract is €20,000, about 18 months of salary during his ministerial rolem, at a time when Tahiri is believed to have been unemployed since March 2017.
Albania’s Serious Crimes Court found Tahiri guilty of abuse of office on 20 September 2019 but did not find him guilty of drug trafficking. He was sentenced to five years in prison which was converted to three years and four months probation, but he appealed the court verdict.
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