U.S. State Department Unable to Deny Ahtisaari Corruption
Excerpt From July 13 Press Briefing
Mr. Lambros.
QUESTION: On Kosovo. Mr. Casey, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested today Martti Ahtisaari unfitness* to mediate further talks based on a bunch of reports that Albanian mafia bribed the UN Kosovo mediator, something which has been most* confirmed by Washington-based Global Information System, GIS, and Gregory Copely of Defense and Foreign Affairs Institute. Given the U.S. Government concern about corruption at the UN, should the U.S. Government be calling for an investigation into this matter? How do these allegations impact U.S. confidence in Ahtisaari’s fitness to mediate further talks in Kosovo?
MR. CASEY: Mr. Lambros, I think that the reports you’re referring to probably fall into the category of spurious [German Intelligence and GIS reports are “spurious”?!]. But look, Mr. Ahtisaari is a distinguished former head of government of Finland, a person with a tremendous amount of experience and a track record in working on these issues. He has the full confidence of the Secretary General who appointed him UN and certainly the plan that Mr. Ahtisaari put forward has the full endorsement of the United States as the basis for moving forward.
We’ve put forward a Security Council resolution with others that calls presently for a period of additional discussions among the parties prior to implementation of those recommendations. But again, I don’t see any reason why there should be any question about the work that he did. We very much appreciate and respect the efforts that he made. We believe that he came up with a good plan and one that’s in the best interests of the Kosovars, of the Serbian people and of the region as a whole.
QUESTION: One more on the same issue. According to reports, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon already started an investigation about these payments, confirmed the existence by a report prepared for him by the German intelligence agency BND unit assigned to the UN mission in Kosovo. Any comment on it?
MR. CASEY: Mr. Lambros, you’re free to go ask the UN what investigations it has or hasn’t started. [...] If you’d like to pursue shadows, feel free to talk to the UN about it.
Far More Than “Shadows” — Gregory Copley: Ahtisaari’s Corruption Confirmed Beyond Doubt
In July 14
exclusive interview with Belgrade daily
Vecernje novosti, the President of the
International Strategic Studies Association Gregory Copley confirmed that everything published about Martti Ahtisaari being bribed by the Albanian mafia to propose independence for southern Serbian Kosovo province is correct.
“We have been investigating a number of corruption cases in the Balkans during the past 15 years. We have received a lot of information and heard rumors about corruption in the Martti Ahtisaari’s office, but we waited until we heard for the
article published by the Banja Luka daily
Fokus. That’s when we started our own investigation.
Talking with the number of our sources, we confirmed that German Intelligence Service BND has indeed put this report together. Our report is created for the governments which are the only ones using the Global Information System. As far as I understand, it was leaked to the media,” said Copley.
Ahtisaari’s Anti-Serbian Bias Evident from the Start
QUESTION:
Is the information about Ahtisaari being bribed reliable?
MR. COPLEY: First of all, we have seen the
BND report. We then inquired with our sources if we can get an independent confirmation about the Ahtisaari corruption.
Few intelligence sources from different states involved in Kosovo process were either suspecting or had evidence about Ahtisaari’s involvement with Albanian organized crime.
QUESTION:
How long were you on Ahtisaari’s trail?
MR. COPLEY:
We have been observing him ever since he was appointed a UN special envoy for Kosovo status, because we knew he came to that post after working for the International Crisis Group, established by the financier George Soros. We also knew that Soros, as well as the ICG, is firmly backing the independence of Kosovo province. This meant that Ahtisaari obviously wasn’t an impartial person for this position.
GIS Balkan Findings Considerably Different from the Picture Media Painted
QUESTION: Has any particular government ordered the investigation of the Ahtisaari case?
MR. COPLEY: Our association conducts independent investigations. We do not work for any particular government and that is why many governments trust our neutrality. We have conducted a large number of investigations pertaining to the Balkan events, the results of which were considerably different from the picture created by the media. This has made some of the governments skeptical, but most of them have now arrived at the position that our reports have been confirmed over time.
QUESTION: In your experience, how much could a revelation such as this one influence the concrete politics?
MR. COPLEY:
We’ve had many requests for confirmation and for further information by the large number of governments and international organizations overseeing the Kosovo process.
QUESTION: From the Serbian Government?
MR. COPLEY:
Not from the Serbian Government.
QUESTION: From the American Administration?
MR. COPLEY:
All I’m going to say is — not from the Serbian Government, but from the large number of governments and the international organizations.
U.S. State Department Acts Like the Albanian Terrorists’ Agent
QUESTION: What do you expect now?
MR. COPLEY: We expect the United Nations to evaluate Ahtisaari’s position. Unfortunately, it seems that the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon lacks the guts to acknowledge the situation created by the [Albanian terrorist] KLA threats of renewed violence. I am disappointed with the fact that the new UN Secretary General has no courage to clean his own backyard. This shows that there is a lot of corruption within the UN that also existed during the Ban Ki-moon’s predecessor.
QUESTION: According to the
Fokus article, it was the UN Secretary General that requested the investigation of Ahtisaari’s corruption?
MR. COPLEY: Soon after he requested the investigation, he demanded quick resolution of Kosovo issue and he failed to undertake clear steps to suspend Ahtisaari, or to examine his work.
He was obviously shocked by the initial accusations, which German intelligence confirmed beyond any doubts. But it should also be taken into consideration that Ki-moon is right now under enormous pressure — not just from the KLA which threatens the entire region with violence, but from the U.S. State Department which acts like the KLA agent in promoting Kosovo independence.
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