TIRANA, March 24 /ATA/- On the third day of his official visit to Washington, USA, Albanian Minister of Interior Fatmir Xhafaj was hosted at the headquarters of Federal Bureau of Investigation by associate deputy director of FBI, David L. Bowdich.
In attendance of the meeting were also State Police director general Ardi Veliu and a team from the Ministry and State Police.
Expressing his gratitude for cooperation and hospitality, Minister Xhafaj emphasized the importance and significance of cooperation with this Agency, especially with the representative office in Sofia, Bulgaria, in the efforts towards law enforcement and fight against criminality.
Moreover, implementation of justice reform, establishment and functioning of new institutions in the fight against organized crime, corruption and terrorism increase the importance of cooperation and sharing of experience with the FBI.
The Interior Minister went on saying that the FBI principles, values and standards are a model and at the same time a source of inspiration for the officers of the investigation structures at State Police.
FBI representatives were briefed on the most important challenges currently facing the Interior Ministry and State Police, such as the fight against organized crime, illicit trafficking, corruption, terrorism, and the need to build integrity, standards and working culture within the ranks of police organization.
A number of analytical and informative documents on the fight against organized crime, drugs including cultivation and trafficking of cannabis, corruption, radicalism and violent extremism were shared with senior FBI representatives to brief them not only on the results so far but also the most pressing needs for support and assistance.
At this meeting, Interior Minister made a request to explore the possibility of dispatching a full-time agent from FBI to Albania to assist the investigation structures at State Police. The expertise, especially in terms of money laundering investigation and motivation of Albanian officers, would be an invaluable contribution.
FBI deputy director Bowdich first stated that Albania is not like the many places he has seen in the course of his long career, which are rife with organized crime and corruption.
Moreover, evaluating the steps taken by Albanian Government to reform the police and the Vetting process in particular, Bowdich noted that the values and standards on which these reforms are based reflect those pursued by the FBI.
He extensively explained the process of reviewing the applications, background and asset investigation, testing and the stage of subjecting the employees to polygraph test.
This process is applied periodically every 5 years. Taking into account the time, energy, human and financial resources associated with the process of vetting the integrity of each employee, Bowdich praised the initiative of Interior Minister for Vetting in the Police ranks as a valuable contribution to improving the culture of police organization in Albania.
In response to Bowdich’s interest, the discussion focused on corruption phenomenon in Albanian society, the public reaction to corruption cases and especially to high-level corruption, underlining the importance of hitting impunity of corruption at the top and medium levels.
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