The President of the Republic, Bajram Begaj, appears to have knowingly violated the country's Constitution. Following accusations by the head of the parliamentary group of the Democratic Party, Gazment Bardhi, that Begaj, even after taking office as president, continued to exercise other public functions, VNA conducted a simple verification and discovered that he continued to benefit from income from other state institutions.
According to data declared to the High Inspectorate for Declaration and Control of Assets and Conflict of Interest, Begaj, in addition to his salary as President of the Republic, has also received payments from the Armed Forces Academy.
In his asset declaration form, he notes that from January to December 2024 he received 63,936 new lek from the Armed Forces Academy, while during the same period he received 3,670,986 lek from the Presidency.
But Article 89 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania is clear: “The President of the Republic may not hold any other public office, may not be a party member, nor may he carry out any other private activity.”
So, the president, clearly and as he himself has admitted, has violated the Constitution, the document he swore to respect and protect in every article and point of it.
And if anyone thinks it might have been simply unconscious, we should remember that, as Prime Minister Edi Rama himself said, “no one has the intellectual independence nor the knowledge of the Constitution of Ilir Rusmajli, the president’s legal advisor.” Therefore, with such a brilliant advisor at his side, such an elementary fact was surely explained to the president, who was satisfied with just the presidential salary and did not even receive that of the Armed Forces Academy.
