SOLEMN ACT/ Gjati pledges to pay more attention to the needs of non-prime ministers

 Kliko këtu për të tjera
Voxpress:

INVESTIGATION/ Tom Doshi has set up a criminal group, traffics drugs and launders money!

2023-07-27 17:35:14Fokus SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Tom Dosh

Australia's top criminal intelligence agency suspects that Tom Doshi, an Albanian businessman and politician with ties to Prime Minister Edi Rama, runs a criminal group that commits fraud with immigration papers, drug trafficking and money laundering, but also commits other criminal offenses in Australia.

This clan, based in Shkodër, a county in northwest Albania, has systematically abused Australia's immigration system to build "an entire Albanian criminal structure of organized crime".

The documents, produced by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) and distributed to domestic and foreign police agencies, are based on numerous reports from local police forces and information from foreign law enforcement agencies.

They were seen by reporters from the OCCRP and Australian newspapers such as The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald.

The files describe how, since 2000, Albanian clans have used deception and family ties to immigration agents to move their people to Australia, setting up groups in Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth and elsewhere. Doshi is described in the file as the "head" of a syndicate "consisting mainly of his extended family".

While the documents do not contain details about his specific activities, they note that 8 of his relatives have been "implicated" in "drug money laundering investigations".

His relatives are reported to have obtained Australian visas using false documentation. One is currently facing drug trafficking charges.

Doshi has not been charged with any crime in his native Australia, where he has built a business empire that has benefited heavily from government contracts.

He was designated persona non grata by the United States in 2018 for "involvement in significant corruption" and was forced to stand down as an MP in 2021. But his involvement in the Australian criminal network has never been revealed before.

"Never in my life have I been involved in any way with drug smuggling, human trafficking, arms trafficking, money laundering, or illegal immigration to Australia, or Albania or anywhere else," Doshi wrote in answers to journalists' questions.

"In fact, as a member of the Parliament of Albania, I have been a strong supporter of the fight against these activities. I have no connection with any Albanian 'criminal clan' based in Australia, or with any Albanian criminal anywhere," he wrote.

"My siblings and their children total 33. I have little or no contact with them other than seeing them at funerals or family celebrations."

In an email to reporters, Doshi described himself as a "devout Catholic" and a "generous donor to the Church."

"They like to dominate"

Albanian criminal groups are very active in the drug trade in the United Kingdom, Italy and many other countries on many continents. Their well-organized and systematic operations in Australia highlight the threat from their international expansion.

Among their main skills, current and former law enforcement officials say, is using immigration rules to smuggle their members into the countries where they operate.

"Often applicants will apply for a particular visa knowing it will be refused," one of the Australian intelligence files says, "but [they] use the lengthy appeals process so they can generate evidence." to support another visa application."

"They are very skilled. Albanian gangsters in Australia display extreme violence," Victoria Police Commander Paul O'Halloran said. 

Tony Saggers, a former high-ranking officer in Britain's National Crime Agency, has spent years tracking down Albanian criminals.

"Just being part of the market is not enough for them, they like to dominate," he said of their involvement in the drug trade.

"They put a lot of emphasis on fulfilling their duties and are determined to do their job well. They like to dominate by gaining control of volume activity, proving they are the best, and satisfying customer demands.”

A criminal 'life cycle'

Australian intelligence documents seen by journalists show what they call a "life cycle", which is divided into 5 stages.

First , they say, people are recruited in their own regions in Albania, sometimes with the false promise that they have found work abroad.

Second, they are brought to Australia using false visa claims.

Third, they manage to stay in Australia by taking advantage of lengthy visa procedures (some Albanians apply to stay in Australia claiming that blood feuds at home would endanger their lives if they return).

Fourth , they commit criminal activity.

Fifth , they are arrested, sentenced and their visas are revoked.

Shkodra has been identified as an epicenter from which many of these criminal groups originate.

Doshi, a political ruler in Shkodër, appears in the documents as the suspected leader of an organized crime group made up of his relatives, described as the "Doshi family syndicate". 

Members of the clan, the documents say, were placed by Australian officials on a "list of persons of interest" of Albanian organized crime.

This list was then shared with law enforcement agencies in many European countries. The document suggests that these agencies have also identified members of the Doshi clan on the list from their investigations./ OCCRP


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

Video

SHIKO KANALIN NE YOUTUBE
×