Received 225 thousand dollars, VOA for the punishment of McGonigal: Hide the meetings with Rama and Ducka

2024-02-17 08:50:00, Aktualitet CNA

Received 225 thousand dollars, VOA for the punishment of McGonigal: Hide the

Charles McGonigal

The Washington federal court sentenced former FBI official Charles McGonigal to 28 months in prison on Friday, "for serious breach of public trust", related to the 225,000 dollars he received from the Albanian-American Agron Neza and the non-declaration of contacts with Albanian officials, including Prime Minister Edi Rama.

The judge in the case, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, said in the courtroom before sentencing that the fact that Mr. McGonigal had received money from someone who had introduced him to foreign officials in Albania "is a very serious offense" and that apparently at the end of his career, Mr McGonigal had lost his "moral compass".

In the session that followed him in the courtroom Voice of America, the judge said that there could be no other motivation than "greed but also arrogance" that Mr. McGonigal had thought that he could do such actions, without consequences.

The judge said that in her decision, she had taken into account that he had taken responsibility by admitting guilt for receiving 225 thousand dollars from Mr. Nezaj and the connections with Albanian officials and that he had expressed remorse.

Prosecutors of the Department of Justice had asked the court to sentence Mr. McGonigal to 30 months in prison and a fine of 95,000 dollars, "for serious breach of public trust", as stated in the memorandum related to the accusations in the case of Albania.

At the hearing, prosecutor Elizabeth Ann Aloi said Mr. McGonigal's violations were flagrant and amounted to corruption. We're dealing with a senior FBI official who sold the post "for $225,000," she said. "He didn't get money from a close friend, she said, referring to Mr. Neza, but from someone who was connected him with foreign officials", she said.

The prosecutor went on to say that he "had gone so far as to open an FBI investigation into a lobbyist," from information he had received from his sources of connections in Albania, the prosecutor said.

Mr McGonigal himself expressed regret for his actions.

At the end of the hearing, Mr. McGonigal refused to answer VOA's questions saying "not now" while his lawyer, Seth DuCharme said that "we are very relieved".

Although Mr. McGonigal's lawyers asked that the sentence from the Washington court run concurrently with that in New York, where he has been sentenced to 50 months in prison on charges of violating US sanctions against Russia, the judge ruled that the sentence in Washington it was special.

If the sentences were considered to run concurrently, it would mean that the Washington court sentence would be part of the 50 months allotted for the New York trial, but both prosecutors and the judge agreed that Mr. McGonigal should serve separate sentences for the charges related to Albania.

According to prosecutors in the case, Mr. McGonigal not only failed to declare his receipt of the money, but advanced Mr. Nezaj's business interests and lied to the FBI about their joint activities, thereby concealing the fact that he had conflicts of interest and private financial interests. . He also hid the meetings with the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, his adviser Dorian Ducka and other people.

"This essentially constitutes corruption that undermines transparency and trust in the integrity of the Executive Branch of the government. "The defendant swore to investigate and prevent crimes against the United States, not to commit them," prosecutors said in the document seeking Mr. McGonigal's sentence.

In September, Mr. McGonigal pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington to all charges related to Albania, including unreported contacts with the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, and the Prime Minister's unofficial adviser, Ducka, in exchange for dropping 8 counts of others that had the deed-claim.

Prime Minister Rama has stated that Mr. Neza "I have never met him before." I didn't exchange letters, nor interests or anything else, but I only met him in the presence of the former senior FBI official."

Prosecutors: Accusations can be proven "beyond any reasonable doubt"

A plea deal reached in September between Mr. McGonigal and prosecutors prevented the case from going to trial. But it was stated that through it the parties declare that "if the case were to go to trial" ... the United States (prosecutors) could prove the facts for which Mr. McGonigal pleaded guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt".

At the September hearing, Mr. McGonigal answered "yes" to all the charges against these facts.

They included, among others, his visits to Albania, meetings with Prime Minister Rama and "maintaining an ongoing relationship with him" and Mr. Ducka, as well as the fact that he had "informed the Prosecutor of the Department of Justice ... about a possible criminal investigation for an American citizen, who was registered to lobby 'for a party that was not Prime Minister Rama's'.

The opening of the investigation for the American lobbyist

The indictment does not identify the American lobbyist nor the Albanian party.

But on November 14, 2017, lobbyist Nick Muzin filed with the Department of Justice, albeit belatedly, documents on the lobbying activity of a few months ago on behalf of the DP.

Mr. McGonigal informed the US Department of Justice about this case, on November 25, "after the day before he had received information about the American lobbyist" from Mr. Ducka.

Në atë kohë, pikërisht dy ditë më parë, më 22 nëntor, BIRN, kishte bërë publik faktin se Muzin kishte deklaruar se kishte marrë 500 mijë dollarë nga Partia Demokratike.

Ndërsa në janar 2018, ish zyrtari i FBI-së, merr sërish informacion, këtë herë nga shqiptaro-amerikani Neza. Ky i fundit, sipas aktakuzës, e ka marrë informacionin nga zyra e kryeministrit të Shqipërisë.

Kur vitin e kaluar foli në parlament për këtë çështje zoti Rama tha se “koha së cilës i referohet ky moment, përkon me ditët pasi skandali kishte dalë në media këtu dhe unë apo zyra ime, nuk kishim asgjë tjetër lidhur me këtë, përveç informacioneve të dala në media se po t’i kishim, si do i mbanim, të fshehura?", duke shtuar se “po të kisha patur çfarëdo informacioni, më shumë se ato që dolën në media, për faktin e tmerrshëm që rusët financonin opozitën më të madhe të këtij vendi për të rrëzuar qeverinë, do t’ia kisha përcjellë kujtdo që të mundja, pa asnjë diskutim, nga organizatat partnerë të ndjeshme për këto çështje dhe FBI-së patjetër, të parës fare”.

Por në fakt, në atë kohë, nuk ishte folur për financime ruse. Shkrimi i botuar nga BIRN nuk merrej fare me këtë çështje, e cila doli në dritë më vonë, në mars 2018, pas dyshimeve të ngritura nga një shkrimi i botuar nga revista amerikane “Mother Jones”.

Nga ana tjetër, kryeministri nuk ka dhënë asnjëherë shpjegime se përse Neza dhe Duçka u angazhuan drejtpërdrejt në këtë çështje, i pari duke u shërbyer si burimi konfidencial për FBI-së për këtë rast dhe i dyti, këshilltari i zotit Rama, duke sponsorizuar udhëtimet e dëshmitarëve nga Evropa për takimet e tyre me FBI-në, ndërkohë që zoti McGonigal nuk kishte informuar FBI-në për marrëdhënien e tij financiare me zotin Neza, apo kontaktet e tij të vazhdueshme me zotin Duçka.

Dokumentat tek të cilat ka qasje Zëri i Amerikës, dëshmojnë se hetimi ishte hapur në shkurt të vitit 2018, për disa mospërputhje në plotësimin e dokumentave të FARA-s, ligjit për regjistrimin e lobistëve dhe se kishte ngjallur pikëpyetje dhe te vetë personeli i FBI-së.

Pikëpyetjet e zyrtarëve të FBI-së lidhur me kërkesën për hetimin e lobistit

Në mbështetje të këtij fakti, prokurorët bashkangjisin një letër të një agjenti të FBI-së ku janë redaktuar disa të dhëna identifikuese. Letra mban datën 16 mars 2018 dhe zyrtari që e shkruan pyet se “pse në kushtet e burimeve të kufizuara dhe faktin që shumë zyra në terren kanë vështirësi të hetojnë kërcënime” më serioze, zyra e Nju Jorkut kërkon hapjen e një hetimi për të meta në regjistrimin si FARA, duke e paraqitur këtë si kërcënim për sigurinë kombëtare?”

Më tej, zyrari shkruan se kërkon që të jetë në gjendje t’u përgjigjet eprorëve nëse lindin pyetje. “Do të doja t’ju shpjegoja atyre se pse po punojmë për një çështje SIM/FARA të lidhur me Shqipërinë, kur çdo ditë unë luftoj për burime për disa çështje të sigurisë kombëtare që kanë lidhje me disa vende që paraqesin kërcënim të lartë si..”, thuhet në letër ku emrat e vendeve të tjera janë të fshira.

Also attached is the decision to close the investigation, dated July 25, 2019, after Mr. McGonigal's retirement, which states that "the New York FBI office has not concluded that ---- (name redacted) committed criminal activity while representing a foreign political force and that he had filed the appropriate FARA documentation with the Department of Justice." In this decision, the Democratic Party of Albania is mentioned by name.

The former top FBI counterintelligence official pleaded guilty in August, also in a New York court, to charges of violating US sanctions against Russia by working after retirement for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who previously he had investigated it. On December 15, the 55-year-old McGonigal was sentenced by the Manhattan federal court to four years and two months in prison./ VOA