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Former Minister of Finance, Arben Malaj, has criticized the way Kanye West's concert in Tirana was financed, stating that public funds should not be used for obligations that do not have a clear contractual basis.
Malaj said that expectations for the number of visitors from this activity are exaggerated and compared them to the way the government presents other projects.
He raised questions about the way the activity was organized and who the real beneficiaries of public funds are, emphasizing that the artist himself has a contractual relationship with the private organizers.
"No obligation that does not have a contractual basis is paid from the state budget and the miracle of this activity, where it is hoped that there will be 60 thousand and 25 thousand will be foreigners, is totally euphoric, as the Prime Minister does with all projects and I have not once heard him say 'forgive us that we made a mistake'. Who are we financing? Are we financing the singer? No. Because the singer has a contract with the organizers. It is not known who the organizers are and they were told that he is also an Albanian. The devil is in the details. Who asked for money? Is there a letter to the Prime Minister? Why should we invest in a 100% private activity?" Malaj told "A2 CNN".
The former minister also stated that the normative act used for this financing raises constitutional questions and demanded accountability for the way public money was used.
According to Malaj, responsibility for the use of funds lies with several institutions, mentioning the ministries that have a role in drafting, implementing and controlling this decision.
"It does not meet any criteria of Article 101. Who should be held accountable if it is declared unconstitutional? In principle, the government and Parliament only bear public responsibility, but in the case of misuse of budget money, the legal responsibility lies with three specific ministers. The minister who proposed this unconstitutional act, who also countersigned it. The second, in terms of the constitutional functioning of the state, the second is the Minister of Justice. His mission is to protect strict respect for the Constitution of the Republic of Albania and the third minister is the Minister of Finance, who has the legal obligation to protect the efficient and completely legal use of collected taxes ," he declared.
Malaj stressed that private activities should not be funded by taxpayers and raised doubts whether the real costs of public engagement are higher than the amount made public.
"Who benefits? If we look at the advertising, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Tourism benefit. The problem is whether they only benefit politically or whether the intermediaries have been doing their job for as long as corruption is called epidemic and as long as state capture is found in all official documents. The organizers of private activities benefit for private gain and this is considered crony capitalism, which means that the benefits go to individuals, the costs remain with the taxpayers. Of course, I doubt and a full investigation is needed that it is not just the 4.2 million aid. There are many elements of logistics with considerable costs that the government will have made available without compensation and thinks that it will not be held accountable ," he concluded.
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