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Albanian media was rocked on Friday by inflammatory remarks by former Prime Minister Sali Berisha, who is currently under house arrest, who revealed a document showing that Florian Coldea, former First Deputy Director of SRI, served as an external security advisor to current Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in 2023. The document cited the document as saying that Antenna 3Coldea will receive 7,000 euros per month for his services. In addition, Berisha made serious allegations, claiming that Florian Coldea and his entourage were linked to the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel.
Coldea and Dorian Ducka, advisor to Prime Minister Rama PHOTO romaniatv.net
Prime Minister Rama’s office issued a statement not denying the contractual relationship with Florian Koldia. But the Albanian government downplayed the allegations of links to drug cartels in an official statement. “Yes, we are used to these programs and we are not worried about the nonsense that links Mr. Cordia’s role as an external consultant to the Mexican TV series on the Tirana Politics and Media Channel, which was recently broadcast in the Romanian Media Cup”, Rama reacted.
According to documents released by Berisha, Cordia served as an adviser to Prime Minister Edi Rama in 2023. The former prime minister, known for his fiery stance against the current government, suggested that the relationship between Rama and Cordia was part of a larger conspiracy. Berisha, speaking from his window at home, accused Rama’s government of working with the Sinaloa drug cartel to traffic cocaine to Tirana and then to Bucharest and other European cities.
The answer does not specify when Coldea begins working for Prime Minister Ramaeven though he continued to hold the position, he was praised as “Provided valuable assistance with recommendations to strengthen security institutions”, said the Albanian media.
Sali Berisha accused Rama of having suspicious ties to Koldea and called him the “Romanian McGonigal,” referring to the case of a former FBI agent accused of taking money from Rama’s Albanian government to lobby the opposition.
Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama Photo EPA EFE
Berisha also reiterated allegations in Romanian media that Cordia had links to the Mexican Mafia.Today, the Romanian media reported on Edi Rama and Sinaloa. We will continue to accept this prime minister”, he said during an appearance before a group of supporters.
In addition to this, Romanian media also published photos of Cordia and another adviser to Prime Minister Rama, Dorian Duca. Duca, a former deputy minister in the Albanian government, was also mentioned in the FBI investigation of the case of former agent Charles McGonigal, who was sentenced to two years in prison for accepting $225,000 from a former employee of the Albanian BroadCast Unitedligence service. In Albania, the prime minister was accused by the opposition of paying McGonigal to attack the Democratic Party and the opposition.
Meanwhile, current Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu has expressed concerns about Cordia’s work as a third-party consultant after his stint in Romania’s BroadCast Unitedligence services, according to Romania’s state news agency Agerpress. The Romanian prime minister has reportedly pledged to amend legislation to prevent similar situations from happening again.
Reactions and controversial images
In Albania, the media widely reported the allegations, publishing photos of Florian Cordia with Dorian Duca and other officials. The images were evidence of close ties between Cordia and Albanian power circles. Albanian journalists reported that Florian Cordia used his influence to facilitate Marina Pandalov’s participation in an international drug trafficking network, bringing cocaine from the Sinaloa cartel to Albania.
Albanian media described details of the “M Network”, an organization that allegedly distributed cocaine to VIPs in Tirana and involved influential businessmen, senior politicians and generals.
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