Speaking about the proposed fiscal amnesty, the Minister of Economy and Finance Delina Ibrahimaj underscored that “it is important to raise capital in order to fund all the major investment projects we have already planned.”

“It is crucially important that all the relevant bodies and capacities are built so that a sort of a year zero is created and so that no opportunities are in place for undeclared money and assets to circulate outside the country’s banking system. Fiscal evasion will also be prevented this way. And the year zero is precisely this one! We will legalize money under a fiscal and legal amnesty and allow every Albanian to legalize undeclared money they might have earned through unreported employment or undeclared financial sheets created over a 30-year long history of wealth and economy people have accumulated. Such a move is not designed just to increase state budget revenues, but given the current economic situation it is important that the economy receives inputs and develops with this capital that will enter the system under the fiscal and legal amnesty legislation.”

The draft law is designed to ensure transparent procedures to allow legalization of undeclared wealth or unregistered or partly registered assets.

***

Prime Minister Edi Rama’s remarks: Thank you very much everyone for your presence!

I would like to say a few words on aspects that probably were not touched upon.

I would like to remind each and every one of you that the idea about a fiscal amnesty in Albania is an old one and it is not my idea and it has never been materialized properly because of a certain local and international pressure for reasons I believe are no longer existing. They don’t actually exist anymore. Albania was not structured as it is today when similar fiscal pardons were adopted previously. It is not that structuring is complete and sufficient nowadays, but Albania has now a structure in place that can effectively ensure what the British expert said and I avail myself of this opportunity to thank him for coming as he represents one of the world’s leading bodies in the fight against money laundering.

It is not that we thought about the fiscal amnesty today. We have been thinking about implementing a fiscal amnesty since day one when we took office nine years ago, but we refrained from proposing it until now as we were fully aware that time was not ripe for the idea to be materialized, just like time was not ripe yet for the idea to legalize use of cannabis for medical purposes. We proposed the first idea after the country was affected by a natural disaster, the devastating earthquake.

Of course, as our friend from the United Kingdom noted, when the governments launch a fiscal amnesty they do so in order to absorb funds and legalize money. That’s for sure, because this is their goal when implementing a fiscal pardon, but telling Albania: “Look, your fiscal amnesty is unacceptable,” this actually shows lack of respect for Albania and the government of the Republic of Albania and, as always and as anytime, I would like to tell our dear and precious friends and partners that mutual respect is the main principle of my work in my capacity as the head of the government of the Republic of Albania.

We have been working on the project for an almost three-year period as the earthquake delayed our plan to implement the amnesty. The arguments you offered us were valuable and that’s why we postponed this process.

We postponed this process primarily because our entire system and legal framework on preventing money laundering had yet to be established. This was the first reason. We have already built such a framework now.

Second, the new justice bodies had yet to be established. The new justice bodies are now in place.

Third, the fiscalization process had yet to be finalized, but fiscalization is now in place and fully operational. However, commerce chambers bearing flags of the partner nations and issuing dazibao-like statements  regarding this government initiative, but this is simply this is a complete lack of respect for Albania’s sovereignty, dignity and Albania’s rights to have its own ambitions.

I met Dutch Prime Minister who told me that the Netherlands has implemented a post-World War II fiscal and legal amnesty. Dutch are the world’s top biggest traders! Dutch are people who have turned even water into an asset. The Netherlands has implemented fiscal amnesties. Other countries have applied amnesties too, but Albania shouldn’t. Why? Ah, because there are risks. Of course there are risks. I am not claiming that we are adopting a risk-free law. However, first of all we are adopting a law based on the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, just like it is the case with the legislation of other countries that is based on their own Constitutions. Second, we are proposing legislation whose scope is much more limited compared to the similar fiscal and legal amnesties applied by the European Union member states.

I want to remind all of you and our international partners. The world is at war. Albania is part of this war. Unlike other countries, Albania has made decisions that have had a high cost. If the war continues beyond a specific limit, it could become unbearable.

Most importantly, before criticizing the initiative one should first read the law, because when coming across such criticism and statements you find out that they are not issued by individuals who have read the draft law and are seeking to improve it.

They are definitely individuals who haven’t read the law, because if they did they would realize that the amnesty ends as soon as you declare and deposit the undeclared money.

So, to put it clearly for everyone, we will push for and enforce this law. We will enforce and apply the fiscal and legal amnesty law and we want to do it in the best possible way. This is the reason why the legislation has been amended to include the suggestions of our partners. We have imposed a two-million euros ceiling for households and not for every individual or every member of this family.

Second, we have imposed a five-year mandatory rule for every applicant to bring money in Albania, invest it and deposit it with the Bank of Albania.

Last, as the Minister of Justice already noted, we have consulted Albanian people on this issue and this is very important for everyone to take into consideration. We have already held the first National Consultation process, inviting all Albanians to anonymously express their opinion  and 66 % of the respondents or around half a million of Albanians, who took part in the first National Consultation, have agreed on the fiscal amnesty and the legal and fiscal amnesty bill will serve Albanian hard-working emigrants as it would legalize their undeclared assets and money generated through unreported employment over the years.

So, this is our approach more or less.

Albania is increasingly showing how serious we are when it comes to the relations with the international partners and how serious we are in delivering on our commitments.

Those objecting to fiscal amnesty should answer a question: Should Albania build  or not a mandatory wealth declaration system for everyone as it is the case with the developed countries?

Of course, it should. However, how Albania is supposed to deliver on such a commitment if it doesn’t first applies an amnesty to allow and provide everyone the opportunity to legalize their money they have earned or the assets they have accumulated in the last 30 years considering the fact that money has been circulating within the banking system in the past 20 years only. This fact should be taken into consideration by those who oppose fiscal amnesty. The amnesty actually represents the last opportunity of a transition towards stricter rules and accountability of everyone vis-à-vis the state, every individual as a taxpayer vis-à-vis the community.

/u.sh/