FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti 
The "Status of MP" law is being used as an enrichment scheme: MPs benefit from tax-free cars, apartment rentals even though they own property, and benefits that cost the state budget millions of euros per year...
According to data from Customs and the Ministry of Finance, 95 deputies, old and new, have imported cars worth over 5 million lek without paying customs duties, based on the law they themselves approved. Many of them have used this privilege in every mandate, passing the vehicles on to family members or selling them. In parallel, 62 other deputies rent housing from the state, although they are owners of apartments and villas in Tirana.
Having just started their new mandate, the deputies of the Albanian Parliament are competing to benefit from the economic privileges they themselves voted for.
According to documents that “Pamphlet” has obtained from the General Directorate of Customs, 95 deputies have imported and purchased 95 luxury cars, for which they have not paid any customs duty, relying on the articles of the “Status of the Deputy” law.
Customs have notified the Ministry of Finance that these vehicles, worth over 5 million lek each, have entered the country without any tax, with the justification of the “legal exemption” granted to deputies during their mandate.
According to the instruction of the Minister of Finance dated May 7, 2018, a luxury car is considered any vehicle with a price of over 5 million lek, for which an annual usage tax is also paid. But the deputies do not pay this tax either, since the law they approved exempts them from any fiscal obligation.
The law gives every MP the right to purchase a private vehicle during a mandate without customs duties, and this privilege has been used to the maximum by senior MPs who have held 2, 3, 4 or even 7 mandates.
In practice, this means that the same people have brought in a luxury car during each mandate, without paying any taxes, to use them themselves, to give to family members or to sell them later for a profit.
The list of MPs who have imported vehicles without customs duties includes names from all political wings:
Fatmir Mediu, Tritan Shehu, Fatmir Xhafaj, Blendi Klosi, Flamur Noka, Niko Peleshi, Fadil Nasufi, Edmond Haxhinasto, Erisa Xhixho, Lindita Nikolla, Edi Paloka, Bledar Çuçi, Gazment Bardhi, Mirela Kumbaro, Ogerta Manastirliu, Albana Vokshi, Olta Xhaçka, Eduard Shalsi, and many others.
The list of new MPs who have exercised this right immediately after the start of their mandate includes Tedi Blushi, Adi Qosja, Tërmet Peçi, Agron Malaj, Enno Bozdo, Zija Ismaili, Tomor Alizoti, Romina Kuko, Blendi Himçi, Bora Muzhaqi, as well as deputy ministers: Pirro Vengu, Adea Pirdeni, Petrit Malaj, etc.
According to Customs sources, some of these vehicles are Range Rover, Mercedes Benz, BMW, Porsche, Audi, Lexus and Maserati, with prices ranging from 50 thousand euros to 200 thousand euros each.
However, none of them have paid customs, VAT or use tax, turning the law into a personal benefit scheme that burdens Albanian taxpayers.
Moreover, many of the list MPs are repeat beneficiaries of the same privilege, as the law does not provide for a general limitation, but only for each new mandate.
In this way, a MP with four mandates could have imported four cars into the country duty-free – all legalized with his own signature.
But this is not the only absurd benefit that lawmakers are taking advantage of.
According to “Pamphlet” sources, 62 other deputies have submitted official requests to the Presidency of the Assembly to benefit from 350 thousand lek per month in rent in Tirana, even though some of them own apartments and villas in the capital or on behalf of their families.
This payment, provided for deputies coming from the districts, has become another source of abuse that costs the state budget hundreds of millions of lek every year.
The question that remains unanswered is this:
How do MPs justify buying luxury cars worth 50-200 thousand euros, when their monthly salary does not cover even a tenth of this expense?
If these funds are declared assets, has the source of income been verified? And if they have not been declared, why has SPAK not opened an investigation for abuse of office and unjustified assets?
In the end, this is the paradox of Albanian politics:
The MPs who vote on tax laws and fiscal rules for citizens are the only ones who do not implement them.
Those who have to pay the price of the law have become symbols of profit, in a state where power is a privilege, not a responsibility.
And while Albanians pay every tax to keep the state afloat, 95 MPs drive around in duty-free cars and 62 others live on rent from the budget; a picture that shows more about the real face of the "political elite" than any speech in the Assembly./ Pamphlet
Shtet muti, bande gjakpiresish!
Me Pak fjale''' nevojtore hesapi