Why run off with a confidential agreement?

The Albanian Parliament was due to approve a confidential loan agreement today to finance the purchase of military equipment from the United States. The document is covered by strict secrecy rules. MPs allowed to read it must first sign a non-disclosure declaration promising not to copy, distribute or share its contents.

Agron Shehaj entered the room, took the agreement and ran towards his office. A secretary chased after him. He pushed her, and she fell down the stairs.

It looked like someone escaping from a psychiatric ward and fighting off anyone who tried to stop him.

Why was Shehaj so determined to take the confidential agreement into his office?

The first suspicion is that he photographed it to keep a copy. If so, the matter should be investigated. His phone and any camera or scanning equipment in his office should be examined. That is the practical side of the case.

The more serious question is why he was so determined to do it. He did not take the document by accident or simply forget to return it. He grabbed it, ran to avoid being caught, pushed aside those who tried to stop him and locked himself in his office with it. He knew exactly what he was doing.

At that point, people naturally start imagining the worst. Those who see Shehaj as an intelligence asset remember that he holds an Italian passport and may therefore be an Italian agent. They picture him reporting to Italian intelligence on Albania’s plans with the United States.

Others may think that, because Shehaj once visited Mar-a-Lago—the Trump estate where classified documents taken from the White House were found—he believes doing the same thing will make him famous and catch Trump’s attention. Perhaps he hopes to be invited back, this time without paying.

Others may think that Shehaj, who finds corruption behind every business deal, wanted to discover who might win the arms contract and reach them first, so he could later claim that he had secured it for them.

There may be other theories.

To me, it recalls an old joke about a fool who was forced to marry. The next morning, people asked what had happened on his wedding night.

“I went into the bedroom,” he said. “My wife began to undress. She took off her dress, then her nightdress. In the end, I took off her underwear too.”

“And then?” everyone asked.

“I pulled the elastic out of her knickers and put it in my pocket while she was not looking. She was lying there with her head covered.”

Originally published in Albanian as: Duke menduar çfarë i duhej Agronit marrëveshja sekrete