The Democratic Party has refuted the article of the Montenegrin newspaper "Pobjeda", that Sali Berisha was financed by the Russians. According to DP this article is incorrect and not based on 'Russian financing'.
In the article published in the Montenegrin newspaper Pobjeda, it was written that Sali Berisha, the (current) chairman of the Democratic Party, has received Russian funding.
The DP press office clarifies that Berisha has not been the chairman of the Democratic Party of Albania since 2013, when he resigned after losing the parliamentary elections, and was re-elected to this post only on May 22, 2022.
She admits that there was Russian funding, but at the time Mr. Lulzim Basha, even though he received an exhaustive answer in the Albanian courts. All actions, according to DP, were carried out in a personal capacity, not INSTITUTIONAL, by the then chairman of the party, Mr. Basha.
The Democratic Party led by Berisha has set up an internal Audit Commission a week ago to make final transparency regarding the case of 'Russian financing', i.e. the documentation, if any, and the financial inflows and outflows that coincide with the time window of this the case.
According to the PD press office, Basha is presumed to have received a funding of 500,000 USD from Russian funds. This money did not enter DP finances and it is unclear when, and how, it was received and how it was used.
DP demands that the Montenegrin newspaper refute the news otherwise they will take measures according to local and international laws.