The Great Pyramids of Albania

Throughout 1996, Albanians sold their houses and their livestock to buy into pyramid schemes that were doomed to fail. By the year’s end, this new kind of financial product had swallowed up almost 50 per cent of the country’s annual income, and touched nearly every adult’s life. How did an entire country fall victim to scammers? Gavin Haynes explores the psychology of one of history’s great mass delusions, 25 years on. He heads to Albania to hear how, in something like a fable, Europe’s most repressive Communist state was suddenly turned loose into a capitalist Wild West it was ill-prepared for. And how the knock-on effects of financial meltdown pushed the country to the brink of total anarchy. At the heart of his journey is an ongoing mystery - what became of the life’s savings of so many ordinary people? With: Prof. Dr. ARBEN MALAJ, President of the Institute of Public Policy and Good Governance, MP for Vlore LAZER SOKOLI, Lawyer and former prosecutor ETLEVA DEMOLLARI, Director of the House of Leaves Museum of Secret Surveillance, Tirana REMZI LANI, Executive Director of the Albanian Media Institute Dr ARTAN HOXHA, Chief Executive Officer Tirana Business School GJERGJI and MARIETA SPIRI – musician and violinist in Gjirokastre and their daughter STEFANIE; GEZIM ZILJA – former Mayor of Vlore GENC DEMIRAJ – theatre technician in Vlore and former video journalist/camera person Dr. JONILA GODOLE, Executive Director of the Institute for Democracy Media and Culture, Tirana ERION VILIAJ – Mayor of Tirana Presenter: Gavin Haynes Producer: Caroline Finnigan Executive Producer: Katherine Godfrey Fixer: Edit Pula Engineer: David Smith Music Sound Engineer: Martin Appleby Actor readings by Orli Shuka A Novel production for BBC Radio 4