ALBANIA: CORRUPTION CONTINUES IN STAFFING AAF

C O N F I D E N T I A L TIRANA 000814

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/12/2018
TAGS: MARR PGOV MOPS AL
SUBJECT: ALBANIA: CORRUPTION CONTINUES IN STAFFING AAF
DEPLOYMENTS

REF: IIR 6 801 0020 09

Classified By: Ambassador John Withers for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary. The Albanian Ministry of Defense was
disappointed to learn that its mission to Iraq will terminate
at the end of December since Albania was not included in the
list of Coalition countries the GOI will ask to stay. One
reason may be the continuing practice of demanding bribes
when selecting officers for overseas deployments. This
corrupt practice is not new, and officers claim it has
decreased somewhat since the USG brought attention to the
issue a few years ago. But they admit the practice still
exists and that it makes it difficult to form coherent
military units. The practice has recently been the cause of
complaints from lower-level officers (reftel). Ambassador
Withers will raise this matter in his meeting next week with
DefMin Oketa. End Summary.


2. (C) According to unofficial accounts, superior commanders
will demand a bribe of up to USD 7,000 from a soldier seeking
to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan. This amount represents
half of the per diem the soldier will receive from
international sources during the six-month deployment,
assuming that per diem averages USD 80 per day. Most
officers cannot pay this sum before deployment, so are
required to get a loan, which they can then pay off gradually
by sending back half of each per diem payment while deployed.
Even after these payments, the sum of money received for
deploying is substantial for an Albanian officer, and many
officers are willing to pay the bribe. There have, however,
been recent complaints. In October, a group of soldiers from
the Commando Regiment wrote an unsigned letter to the leaders
of the GOA and sent a copy to Post, claiming that Col Xhemal
Gjunkshi, commander of the Regiment, demands these bribes and
is involved in other corruption schemes (reftel); they
threatened to send their complaints to the New York Times for
publication.


3. (C) The most recent rotation to Iraq was deployed in
September, meaning they will curtail their six-month
deployment early and not be able to finish paying off their
loans. This may be one reason the MoD is considering
deploying the company from Iraq to Afghanistan immediately
upon their arrival from Iraq, so that the soldiers can
complete thir six-month deployment and finish paying of
thir loans.


4. (C) One of" the manynegativ conseuences of this corrupt
practce s that sinceony those officers who pay the bribe
ae slcted, eployed companies are rareychsve nits,
u a hodge-podge of officersfro vaiousuiswo hve
little or no trainingtoehr

5. C Whe asked about this practice n fierstae o

Poloff that this was an enrmus rble ni mbassador
Marcie Ries brouht atnintothe issue two years ago.
The offcrcaimed thatsnetat time, the practice has
decreasd althugh he admitted that it is still resen. He
stated that the practice is a resultof the inadequatepay
military officers receive,which creates incentives for
corruption, and tha the problem will not be resolved until
soldiers salaries are raised to an adequate level.


6. (C Ambassador Withers plans to raise this issue in hs
meeting with Defense Minister Oketa scheduled or November 20.
WITHERS