Author: Elton Qyno
On September 10, 2012, the Peruvian citizen, Manuel Augusto Blacker Miller, landed at the Rinas airport with a business visa in his passport, with his hands in his pockets and a laptop thrown on the shoulder.
The ticket from Miami in the USA to Tirana was paid for by the Albanian businessman, Arben Shuaipi, who came out with a banner to welcome him to the airport.
Miller was received with all the honors of the occasion, starting from the status of the former foreign minister of Peru, businessman and financial consultant in America.
What was most important, Miller at that moment was the man who would provide the businessman Shuaipi and his Italian partners with 300 million dollars for the construction of the waste incinerator in Fier.
Now he seems to have left Albania with 170 euros received from Shuaipi and another Fierak businessman at a time when he is likely to be sentenced to prison.
The investigations against him were started by the Prosecutor's Office of Tirana in May 2014, while on May 23, 2017 he was declared guilty by the court, on the charge of "deception more than once" being sentenced to eight years in prison in absentia. The Court of Appeal is expected to finally decide his fate on September 26.
But Miller's story is more complicated than that.
Manuel Augusto Blacker Miller delivering a lecture to the students of Luarasi Private University.
The former minister has been sentenced to four years in prison in Peru, after he and other former ministers of the former prime minister, Alberto Fujimori, helped the coup d'état in 1992.
During the five years of his stay in Albania, he not only managed to easily obtain the status of a political asylum seeker and be the main shareholder in an Albanian company, but also reached the position of Prime Minister, as he had previously become "familiar" with politicians from others in the country.
The investigation published by the Center for Quality Journalism shows how the former Peruvian minister, favored by institutional weaknesses, managed to easily deceive for a long time at the highest levels of business and politics.
However, it is not clear where Miller actually is.
Egla Muzaka, the former lawyer who defended Miller in the criminal process of the first degree, in a communication on the social network Facebook, said that he has not had any communication with him for a long time.
"I haven't been able to talk. Another client of mine who knows Miller communicated to me that he was in Brazil...", she said.
Meanwhile, his lawyer at the Court of Appeal, Manushaqe Zhulali, told the court in the session of May 2018 that she also did not know where her client was.
"...I had the last meeting with Miller in August 2017, where he gave me the power of attorney to represent him in court. I don't know why he didn't appear in court today", she emphasized.
The former minister left Miami to move to Tirana
It still remains unclear how Miller crossed the border point of Rinas and entered Albania without being stopped by the police, at a time when an international arrest warrant had been issued against him from Peru.
He lived in Miami with his wife and children after fleeing his country in November 2002, with the fall of former Prime Minister Fujimori's government.
Fierak businessman, Arben Shuaipi, met Miller through his two Italian partners, Gianpaolo Azola and Alberto Palidini, with whom he had founded the company Apollonia Investments, which aimed to build an incinerator for burning waste and producing energy in Fier.
After they had done almost everything to pave the way for the investment, they were looking for an investment fund of 300 million euros, and this fund was promised by a financial advisor in the US who was Miller. He promised from phone conversations that he would provide this money from an American investment fund.
"Actually, in order to secure the investment of 300 million euros, we had two options: to lobby for the investment with an economic adviser in Milan, Italy, and with Miller who was in the USA...", said Arben Shuaipi.
To see if he could help the businessmen in this venture that would be located in Fier in 2012 with Shuaip's mediation, Miller met in New York with the former mayor of Fier, Baftjar Zeqaj, and other representatives. of this municipality.
Only four days after arriving in Tirana, through a fictitious contract and without bank transactions Miller got 80% of the company's shares Apollonia Investments.
"Miller only promised that he was fully engaged with his partners outside Albania, that he would bring the investment, but in order to be convincing to the partners, he required the increase of his capital in the company Apollonia Investments", - says Shuaipi.
While from the verification of Miller's share capital in the company extract Apollonia Investments, they result in the value of 11 million ALL.
Meanwhile, the businessman Shuaipi undertook to pay for the rented house where Miller would stay in Tirana, the luxurious offices, his food and for any other necessary Services.
In total, from September to December 2012, Miller managed to get the businessman an amount of 150,000 euros.
While the businessmen were waiting for Miller to secure the investment fund to start the work, the latter met several more times with the former mayor, Zeqaj.
After many meetings and promises, Miller and the other shareholders of Apollonia Investments, manage to find the surface of the land and get the construction permit from the mayor of Fier.
"This person's story makes me feel bad because a lot of mud has been thrown on my person using his case. He has come to Fier many times and we have met...", says the former mayor, Baftjar Zeqaj.
According to Shuaip, Miller was always in demand a little more time, but in the meantime he continued to meet other Albanian businessmen, being promised money for large investments.
One of these businessmen was Iljaz Fisheku, a relative of businessman Shuaipi, who carries out commercial activities in the field of hydrocarbons.
Through an agreement between the company Cartridge of Iljaz Fishek and Apollonia Investments that was administered by Miller, held on March 8, 2013, the parties agreed: "... to join efforts to secure a financial structure that they would use in the future for the import of petroleum products...".
For this agreement, Miller sets the condition that Cartridge must pay 21 euros in a bank account in America, before these, which would be needed for various Services for the procedure necessary to secure the financial structure.
On March 8, 2013, through a bank transaction the company Cartridge from the BKT bank in Tirana, 20 euros are transferred to the company's account European Contact headquartered in Miami, Florida.
Asked via e-mailif his company had received the amount of 20 thousand euros transferred from Albania to the bank account of European Contact, the president of the latter, Enrico Cortesano, refused to comment.
"We cannot give news to anyone who writes to us without any credentials...", he replied. [pullquote] Political life
Manuel Augusto Blacker Miller was born in Lima on October 18, 1945 and is by profession
Peruvian engineer, economist and entrepreneur.
He was Minister of Foreign Affairs during the first government of Alberto Fujimori.
In 1990 he was an adviser to the Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Juan Carlos Hurtado
Miller, as well as chairman of the Foreign Debt Negotiation Group.
On 6 November 1991, he was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs, becoming the fourth chancellor
the Fujimori regime.
Peruvian justice included him in the list of the ten former ministers of Alberto Fujimori who were tried
to support the coup in 1992, and a national and international order to
his catch was released.
On November 26, 2007, the Special Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Peru handed down sentences that
ranging from 4 to 10 years in prison against 10 former Fujimori ministers.
On November 11, 2009, Miller was arrested by international agents of the Bureau of Immigration and
Customs in the state of Florida, United States.
They began to do the regular procedures, so that it could be brought to Peru and put in
at the disposal of judicial authorities.
In January 2013 he was caught in the city of Tirana, Albania by Interpol, however
the next day he was released.[/pullquote]
In the conditions when none of the investment funds were coming, Arben Shuaipi reported Miller to the police and the court process started against him.
After 42 sessions, the judges of Tirana, Tereza Lani, Altin Abdiu and Migena Laska, declared him guilty on May 23, 2017, sentencing him to 8 years in prison.
Miller throughout the trial claimed his innocence, acknowledging the financial obligation, but arguing that this was a civil relationship and not a criminal one.
The prosecutor of the case, Gjergji Tako, emphasizes that Miller always had complaints about the way his trial was being conducted.
“…He was strange, made many demands in court and always complained about the interpreters. After learning the sentence, he started laughing in the courtroom and gave me the impression that he was completely calm...", the prosecutor said.
Meanwhile, through his lawyers, the minister appealed the case to the Appeal, but did not participate in the first two court sessions, making his presence in the next month's session unclear.
If the Appeal confirms the decision of the First Instance, then Miller must be imprisoned immediately to serve the sentence.
Miller promised the Prime Minister the investment
To realize the plan for the construction of the incinerator in Fier, the company Apollonia Investments with the main shareholder, Miller had to overcome another obstacle, that of the National Land Regulation Council, which had to give the final approval for the construction of the incinerator in Fier and which depended directly on the former prime minister of the country, Sali Berisha.
According to Shuaip, Miller, accompanied by him and the Italian Alberto Palidini, managed to hold a meeting with the former prime minister, Berisha, in his office, revealing the project, its purpose and requesting permission from KKRRT to start construction.
"During the meeting, Berisha told us that in order to get the permit, the company had to bring a security certificate, called proof of funds and this certificate was issued only by the bank where the fund of 300 million euros was located, which was intended for the financing of this project", Shuaipi says.
Shuapi points out that Manuel Augusto Blacker Miller promised Berisha that he would manage to provide him with this proof and would send it to him within a week. In fact, he never got around to showing anyone this evidence.
Meanwhile, former prime minister Berisha, when asked if he remembered meeting Miller, emphasized that the former mayor of Fier, Baftjar Zeqo had insisted on doing so and as a result he asked his economic adviser.
"I didn't wait for it myself, but I asked my advisor Zana Guxholli to wait and listen to it," Berisha emphasized.
Walking in Tirana, Crop and university
In Tirana, Miller frequented expensive bars and restaurants.
He frequented the hotel very often Crop, where he stayed for a long time in the company of laptophis. Other favorite places for him were pastry shops Paris in the area of the former Block or shopping centers RING or TEG.
Miller's frequent presence in Crop the employees of this hotel in the center of Tirana also confirm it, but the hotel receptionist Crop says that for six months already Manuel Augusto Blacker Miller does not frequent the premises of this hotel.
"He has been ordered not to enter the premises of this hotel due to his bad behavior in terms of his financial obligations here," says the receptionist who refused to be identified.
Even a pastry chef Paris located in the area of the former Block, after seeing Miller's photo on our phone, says that this person always came to their bar alone, but for four months she says that Miller has not frequented this pastry shop.
According to prosecutor Gjergji Tako, Miller stated in one of the court sessions that he was employed as a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics in Tirana.
But, during a communication in his office with the dean of this faculty, Dhori Kule, the latter confirmed to us that "there was no lecturer with this name on the roster of this faculty".
But, in a video recording, the former Foreign Minister of Peru appears on May 26, 2015, teaching in university privately Luarasi in Tirana, where he explained to the students how to deal with the labor market and the international financial system.
During a conversation with the former rector of this private university, Arben Malaj, the latter said that he did not remember if the Peruvian citizen had ever taught at this university, since the time of the video recording, according to him, does not coincide with the period of leadership from him of this university.
However, Malaj verified the case through the chief financier of this university by asking him if he ever had Manuel Augusto Blacker Miller on the payroll, but received confirmation that there is no payment from the university to this person.
Malaj added that Miller may have been invited as an external lecturer to spend an hour communicating with university students. According to him, this institution often invites external lecturers and this is done free of charge.
Detention by the police and asylum in Albania
Blacker Miller entered Albania with a business visa that cost 30 euros, issued by the Albanian consulate in New York. But, after several months of staying in the country, without ever leaving it, in January 2013 he presented himself to get a long-term residence permit near the offices of the Border and Migration Directorate in Tirana. At this time, he was informed that there was an arrest warrant against him from the Peruvian government for political reasons, and the police stopped him immediately.
"His detention by the police was a bombshell for us, since we had no information about his activity in Peru; plus, at that time, the media trumpeted his detention and our investment project negatively," explains Arben Shuaipi.
Miller was interrogated by the police, while he decided to apply for the status of a political asylum seeker in Albania, claiming that he was politically persecuted from his country of origin.
He was released and on July 15 of that year his asylum request was approved.
Asked on what criteria the Directorate for Citizenship and Refugees was based on granting asylum status to Manuel Augusto Blacker Miller, the Ministry of the Interior stated that "it cannot provide data on cases that damage personal data".
Besnik Zela, head of the Migration Department at the Border Directorate of the State Police, says that in the Milleri system it turns out that he has a permanent residence permit, given in 2014.
The Media Adviser at the Ministry of the Interior, Ardi Bita, says that no deportation decision or revocation of asylum status has been made against Miller by the Directorate for Citizenship and Refugees, as the ministry is awaiting a definitive sentence.
*In the first photo, Manuel Augusto Blacker Miller giving a lecture to the students of the Luarasi private university.
