Exclusive/Is there an investigation for Saimir Tahiri in Italy? Evidence that put in question his testimony

To prove that the mentioning of his name was by chance and unrelated to the case, the former Interior Minister declared in a press release that he had received from the Catania Prosecution an attestation proving that he was not a person under investigation.

“I received a document from the Catania Prosecution within 48 hours. This document was issued on October 23^rd, and it says that Saimir Tahiri has not been under investigation by the Catanian Prosecution”, Tahiri declared on October 24^th.

Due to the sensibility of this case, Top Channel asked the Catanian Prosecution for further details on the case. The answer from the Prosecution of Catania is that the Prosecutor sees no reason to answer. In this moment, Top Channel tried to see how this attestation could be obtained from the respective authorities.

For this reason, Top Channel asked a law studio in Catania. Lawyer Carmen Gulizia explained that every citizen had the right to ask for such document on his name, by making a physical request or through the intermediation of an Italian lawyer.

Top Channel authorized lawyer Carmen Gulizia to request this attestation for us. After the request was submitted, we waited for 48 hours, but there was no reply. Our lawyer obtained the answer only after seven days.

We asked if the delay was because of us, but the Italian lawyer explained that such a document cannot be received within 48 hours. Even if we had made the request physically, at the Prosecution of Catania, the waiting time doesn’t change.

In collaboration with the colleagues of MeridioNews we asked two other studios in Catania and even the Chairman of the Chamber of Criminal Lawyers in Catania, who gave us documents belonging to other Italian citizens whose names we have covered for privacy reasons. We noted that the waiting time was always 7 days.

One of the documents has no signature of the official employee who issued it, but an additional barcode on the upper right side of the page. Lawyers said that this barcode is added if the document is received electronically, through e-mail. If it is withdrawn as a physical copy, through post or at the secretary, there is a signature.

Besides this, the documents are all identical. But if you compare the documents with the one presented by former Minister Tahiri, they are very different, even in its content. Why?

Italian lawyer Gofrredo D’Antona says that they have never seen such documents.

“I have never seen such document. Our documents are not like this. It is clear that there are plenty of things missing. First of all, it doesn’t have the logo of the Italian Republic. It doesn’t have the barcode. It is a code that serves to identify the document and who has issued it. This has a protocol number and it says: ‘no records resulting’. Someone must have seen it and written this in a hurry, because the Italian documents don’t say if there are records or not, but they say: ‘There are no current records to notify’. There is a visible difference. This is the original, and this is the document you showed me. They are inconsistent. Not different, but inconsistent. This is a false document. I cannot say that it is forged, because that’s a serious crime, one of the most serious crimes on our criminal code”, says Lawyer Gofrredo D’Antona.

“Absolutely, it does look like a non-original document, keeping in mind that the official document of the Prosecution has a barcode with the logo. This is the model issued by the Catania Prosecution. I have not seen other models. I cannot say anything about the stamp although I cannot exclude that it is true. It doesn’t tell though where it comes from. There is a signature, but you cannot see the name of the official who has issued it. However, even if there is a criminal investigation, it doesn’t mean that it will be written in the attestation. In most certificates it is written: ‘there are no current records to notify’, which means that a person could be investigated for serious crimes, without being aware of it, due to investigation secrecy”, said the Chairman of the Criminal Chamber in Catania.

Based on this investigation and interviews, it seems that there are two different attestations, the one obtained by Top Channel through lawyer Carmen Gulizia, and the one taken from Minister Tahiri, which lacks of many details.

Top Channel guarantees that the document was issued by the Prosecution of Catania. It is official and it was issued within normal official times. Most importantly, even if Tahiri’s was an official document, it doesn’t prove that Tahiri has been under investigation by the Catania Prosecution.

Top Channel