By Boldnews.al
An Albanian-American from New Jersey who was accused earlier that he received money from outside America to buy two tickets for a fundraising meeting in San Francisco, a meeting that was used by Rama to have a picture of Obama, photo that was used for the Albanian electoral campaign of 2013.
Albanian – American Bilal Shehu, who was charged three years ago with using money from outside America to provide a photography opportunity between Edi Rama, then president of the opposition Socialist Party and Barack Obama, US President in the re-election campaign, pleaded guilty to a federal court in New York, New Jersey in the US and is expected to be sentenced, Reuters reported.
According to Reuters and other US media, Shehu pleaded guilty stating that in September 2012 he received a $ 80,000 bank-transfer “from a foreign source” with full knowledge that these money should be used to pay the participation in one fundraising activity for Obama’s campaign.
The indictment does not mention the name of the foreign funder of this illegal operation in the US, but Reuters says the person who benefited from the funding was Edi Rama, currently prime minister of Albania.
“A limousine driver from New Jersey pleaded guilty Wednesday that helped transfer $ 80,000 in outside contributions to President Barack Obama’s campaign in 2012 so a foreign citizen could take part in a campaign activity,” he writes Reuters.
But in 2013, a Republican congressman identified the event and called for investigations into the purchase of two 40,000-dollar tickets each for a fundraising activity in San Franvcisko in October 2012.
“In October 2012, Rama, the leader of the Socialist Party of Albania, was photographed with Obama,” Reuters writes.
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher of California at the time complained that Rama’s photo with Obama was used for “bad” purposes to imply a relationship between Rama and Obama during the 2013 elections in Albania, making him prime minister.
Prosecutors said businessman Shehu, a resident of New Jersey, went to San Francisco and tried to enter the fundraising activity with foreign nationals, but the latter refused entry. However, foreigners (Rama) were given the opportunity to be photographed with Obama.
“By accepting blame today, Shehu acknowledged responsibility for his conduct and expressed deep penance for his actions, “attorney Alan Abramson said in Reuters. Obama’s staff does not
was accused of this incident because according to the prosecutors, he cooperated in full with the investigation and it appears that he was unaware that the money given by Shehu had in fact foreign origin.
In the United States, foreign citizens are not allowed to make donations to the country’s electoral campaigns due to the damages that could bring such money to democracy.
However, American laws allow foreign governments or companies to pay lobbyists in the US while lobbying fees and contracts are mandatory to be declared under the Foreign Agent Act.
Albanian political leaders have long used such funding in the US in the hope that they will convince Albanians that they have the support of US officials or that the foreign media writes well for them. In some cases, money for lobbyists has ended not only to create a good image, but also to denigrate the opponent.
A previous BIRN investigation found that the money that the Albanian government of former Prime Minister SaliBerisha gave to a US lobbying company was effectively used for a denigrating campaign against Rama, while the Socialist Party paid another US lobbyist who was trying at all costs provided negative news about Albania in the international media.
At present, in preparation for the 2017 elections, the Socialist Movement for Integration party recently hired a lobbyist in Washington at $ 30,000 a month, while the Democratic Party hired its old lobbyist Podesta.
Meanwhile, a highly-criticized lobbyist has published some praiseworthy scripts for Meta in the Washington Times newspaper.
