Ripped-Off Albanians Offered Hope Italian Official, Socialist Leader Both Talk Of Reimbursement
Local and foreign officials suggested Tuesday that tens of thousands of Albanians who lost their life savings in failed pyramid schemes last year, sparking widespread unrest, may be partially reimbursed after upcoming elections.
Public anger over the loss of an estimated $1.2 billion in the investment funds caused an armed insurrection that continues today. The national elections, scheduled for June 29, are seen as a critical step toward getting the fractured country back on its feet.
Though the unrest pits supporters of President Sali Berisha in the north against his opponents in the rebel-held south, most Albanians have a common pursuit: return of the money they sunk into the schemes.
Hope for reimbursement came from two quarters Tuesday, when a senior Italian official and a top leader of the Socialist Party suggested independently that foreign grants or loans could be used for that purpose.
The Italian undersecretary of defense, Massimo Brutti, said foreign countries and financial institutions stand ready to help - “even giving back money to people who invested before the turmoil” - if the elections succeed in ending the chaos.
The Socialist official, Anastas Angjeli, said if his party defeats Berisha’s majority Democrats in the elections, the new Socialist government would use foreign credits to reimburse investors.
He told The Associated Press that a Socialist government would try to have foreign bank accounts, property and other assets amassed by those who ran the schemes seized and used to pay off destitute Albanians.
Some of those who led the schemes have been arrested, while others have fled the country. Several of the funds, which promise high rates of return and whose only revenue comes from new investors, are still in existence.
Angjeli said that according to unconfirmed reports, $120 million of investors’ money was smuggled out in recent months on a ship that left from Vlora, a southern port city.