Sunday, February 26, 2012

SP: Albpetrol, a giant corruption affair



SP: Albpetrol, a giant corruption affair
The opposition accuses that the unprecedented formula with which the government is selling the Albpetrol Company is a giant corruption affair with colossal damages for the citizens.

“Every Albanian must understand that today they are selling the exploitation rights for oil and gas, definitively. No one will be able to use the oil wells in Albania, besides these private operators who are receiving Berisha’s blessing”, declared the Socialist MP, Erion Brace.

The government says that the sales of the oil rights do not damage the national interests, because the state will receive the mineral export and income taxes from the private company that will buy Albpetrol.

“The state collects even today the mineral export and income taxes. The element that is going away from the public wealth is the dividend. Albpetrol was the one to receive the dividends. Tomorrow, this dividend will be taken by the private operator”, Brace declared.

The private operator that will buy Albpetrol will be granted with the right of the first offer even for all other oil concession, even when the Albanian investors will withdraw or even when their 25-year-long deadline will end.

“The fate of a child that is born today gets decided for the next 25 years, and by the end of these years, that child will be a simple worker in his country, because the natural wealth of his homeland will be sold before he comes to life, and Sali Berisha has privatized them. The privatization of the country ends with the privatization of Albpetrol”, Brace declared.

Albania is the only oil-rich country in the region, and the Patos-Marinza oil field is considered as the biggest source in the European Continent.

“The horrible part of this entire story is that we are exporting oil with cheap prices, and the Albanian citizens, who are the owners of this land, buy imported oil each year with a higher price”, the Socialist MP declared.

The de facto Albpetrol sale ends the privatization in the oil sector, where the state gives up from all special rights on its wealth.

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