Cherie Blair attacked for five-star trip to Albania

Just weeks after Tony Blair visited Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi yet again - in June this year - it has emerged that his wife Cherie Blair accepted a five-star trip to Albania as the guest of a powerful, vastly rich and hugely controversial oil tycoon. The 39-year-old multi-millionaire Rezart Taci has been accused of using his political ties to acquire Albania's sole oil refinery and also faces charges of beating up an investigative journalist.
 
A spokesman for Mrs Blair has confirmed that on July 8 she was flown to Albania on a private jet owned by Taci. While in the former communist state Mrs Blair opened Taci's recently acquired TV station, cutting a ribbon and allegedly praising its new owner's 'can-do' attitude.
 
Yet in Albania Mrs Blair's host is seen as a corrupt and violent man and the former Prime Minister’s wife has been roundly condemned for associating with him.
 
Last year Taci was charged for his role in a savage assault on a TV journalist. Taci and two of his bodyguards allegedly attacked investigative reporter Mero Baze in a Tirana bar in November, apparently in a rage over the journalist's accusations of tax evasion and corruption. Baze was left unconscious and the country's US ambassador John Withers called the beating an "inexcusable assault".
 
The tycoon - who is said to be worth €700 million in a country where the average wage is the equivalent of under €300 a month - denies the charges and a date for his trial is yet to be set.

The incident triggered petitions over press freedom and protest marches declaiming the attack, yet given Taci's political connections - he is friends with Prime Minister Sali Berisha as well as Italy's Silvio Berlusconi - many in Albania doubt whether the trial will ever make it to court.
 
Last night Mrs Blair's spokesman insisted that she had been invited to Albania as the guest of Berisha's wife, who wanted her to visit a children’s charity. Mrs Blair had not met Taci before the trip, the spokesman also claimed, and "received no fee of any description from Mr Taci".
 
Back in Albania, however, Taci has reportedly been complaining that the money he says he spent on Mrs Blair's visit was not worth it. A source told the Daily Mail: "He has been complaining to his staff that he paid €200,000 to bring Cherie Blair here, and the only media to cover the visit was his own TV station... he is desperate to improve his image."
 
Witnesses who attended the TV station opening have also recounted how Mrs Blair greeted Taci like a long-lost friend and spoke about him in glowing terms. The Mail claims that after Taci heaped praise on Mrs Blair's record as a human rights lawyer and judge, she in turn said she was "honoured" to be in Albania for the ceremony. "Press is such an important part of any country," she reportedly said, before adding: "I think this says something about the ‘can-do’ attitude of your proprietor. He actually made it happen."
 
Baze, the beaten journalist, has condemned Mrs Blair for supporting his alleged attacker. He told the Mail: "Here in Albania, Tony Blair is a hero because of saving Kosovo. The words of his wife are powerful and carry great weight. For her to say such nice things about Taci, like freedom of the press, it gives him so much undeserved credibility. It boosts his image, after what he did to me." ·