Land, villas, apartments, shops, cars, bank accounts and assets of several companies were frozen on Friday, June 28, 2024, by the Tirana Court under suspicion that they come from criminal activity.
At the center of these suspicions are Elman Abule and Kristian Boçi. The former is known as an entrepreneur in the scrap metal field, the latter mainly for the luxurious life he advertises on social networks and his friendships with artists, athletes and politicians.
The Tirana Prosecution Office suspects that Abule has created a scheme to circulate and justify the proceeds of crime.
“This citizen, through the creation of a series of companies, some of them under the administration of the UN[Kristian Boçit] , or VA[Vladimir Avramit] “, have created a genuine scheme to launder the proceeds of crime,” the prosecution said in a statement on Friday, naming Ender Boçi as part of the group.
All four have businesses in the energy sector. They have secured contracts to develop two hydroelectric power plants in Mirdita and a wind turbine in Puka.
For the construction of hydroelectric power plants in 2020, Abule has acted as guarantor for a loan of 1 million euros from a second-tier bank. In the loan contract, Kristian Boçi is presented with dual citizenship and Greek identity, Kristian Botsis, while on social networks he is also addressed by the name Gusti.
The prosecution emphasized that “borrowing large amounts from second-tier banks” was one of the schemes used by the group to justify the money flows. However, the prosecution did not specify this suspicion with specific cases.
Among other suspicious actions, the prosecution cited smuggling, the purchase of hydroelectric power plants with considerable values ”without justifying the source of income”, the fictitious purchase and sale of cars with large values, the creation and management of inactive companies for which “capital increases are declared”.
Authorities suspect that Abule included his wife Marisa Nito in the scheme. Kristian and Ender Boçi are also suspected of acting similarly.
Based on these suspicions, the court decided to seize the assets of 16 companies related to the group and partners, while also blocking their bank accounts.
Specifically, the court seized from the main company “Fidalba”, owned by Abule, a palace project under development, four buildings with an area of about 2,500 square meters and two plots of land with an area of about 5,600 square meters in Xhafzotaj, Durrës.
Abula and his wife also had two villas with a total area of about 500 square meters and two plots of land with an area of 550 meters purchased for a value of about 1.2 million euros seized.
Boçi had four shops with a total area of about 950 square meters in Tirana seized, an apartment of about 200 square meters, two garages and a Mercedes Benz car purchased for 117 thousand euros in 2014, for a total asset value exceeding 750,000 euros.
Abule-Boçi’s “business empire” and suspicious connections
In the spring of 2007, the Belgian Official Journal brought joy to hundreds of immigrants awaiting the decree of King Albert II on citizenship. Among them was Elman Abule, an Albanian who had emigrated to Belgium with his family for years.
A few years later, Abule would be mentioned in public debates in Albania as one of the first beneficiaries of the law on waste imports. This law was approved in September 2011 while a large civic organization opposed it, demanding a referendum to ban them.
Due to the fact that he was a resident of Belgium and had an unusual name, Abule would be mentioned in the media as the “African representative of the Fidalba company”, a company that Abule had founded a year before the adoption of the waste law, in May 2010, with a charter capital of 4 million lek and main activity of processing scrap, aluminum and lead.
In July 2010, together with Kristian Boçi, he launched the company “Rametal” with a founding capital of 200 thousand euros and an activity in metal processing. Abule is included as a shareholder in this company with “Fidalba”.
“Rametal” would be one of the first companies to be authorized by the Democratic Party government to import “25 thousand tons of aluminum waste.”
Since 2011, the Abule-Boçi duo would continue their collaborations, even with people whose pasts were controversial.
In the years 2014-2016, they were partners in “Rametal” with Denis Matoshi (known as Eldi Dizdari), accused of leading a faction of the cartel called “Bello Company”, responsible for the international trafficking of cocaine from South America to Europe.
Dizdari turns out to have purchased Abula’s wife’s shares for 10 thousand euros in 2014, while the latter repurchased them for the same amount two years later.
In addition to Eldi, Abule-Boçi also had a partner, his brother, Saimir Dizdari, initially identified with a German passport in the companies “Dizi” (2015) and “Ferro Chrome Holding” (2015-2017). Boçi later bought his shares for 109,000 lek.
The period of cooperation with the Dizdari brothers coincides with the maneuver of duplicating the company “Rametal”. The company that won the right to import “25 thousand tons of aluminum waste” changed its name to “Metale Albania”, while “Metalform”, established in March 2014, took the name of “Rametal”.
Currently, both have their headquarters in a scrap yard near the “Durrës-Tirana” highway in the village of Vrinë. Five other Abule companies, “Fidalba”, “Trital”, “Alfemet”, “Ferro Chrome Holding” and “Metal Form” – recreated in 2021, also have their offices there.
Meanwhile, Boçi’s main venture is the company “MAK-08”, which is mainly focused on construction. But he and Abule have also collaborated in other companies such as “Chriss”, “Gloris Construction” or “Europa Building”.
Businessmen with many friends
Three photos from the terminal of an airport in Rome, Italy, suddenly circulated on social media at the end of August 2019. They showed the mayor of Tirana, Erion Velaj, dressed in sportswear, with sneakers, a backpack and a hat, as he passed routine ticket checks at the counter.
A few days later, the media reported that the mayor of Tirana was accompanied on the trip by Elman Abule, who in the joint photo also appeared dressed in sportswear and carrying a shoulder bag.
The municipality and Veliaj himself did not provide any explanations for this trip.
Abule has kept a low public profile. Few photos, almost no social media accounts. In contrast, the couple Kristian and Drilona Boçi have led an engaged public life with open social media accounts and an extended circle of friends in the arts and sports. Their profile posts and media interviews indicate a life of luxury.
In addition to the material side, the couple cared about their image. They appeared as devoted believers and philanthropists. Kristian Boçi appeared as a strong supporter of sports and national identity.
He presented himself as the promoter of boxers Florian Marku and Jurgen Uldedaj. He has been alongside the boxers in question at various events in Albania and the United Kingdom, also giving press statements.
In the period 2019-2020, Boçi appeared as a sponsor of the Mirdita Football Club. For one season, the Mirdita jersey had the initials “KB” printed on the front. The initials were not associated with any brand other than Kristian Boçi’s name.
Two years later, the club withdrew from the Second Division due to financial problems.
Meanwhile, his wife, Drilona, a former Miss Albania contestant, gained attention after she bought singer Elvana Gjata’s “Altar” store in January 2017. According to the notary’s contract, Drilona paid 200 thousand euros, even though “Altar” had closed the 2016 fiscal year with a loss of about 23 thousand euros.
Among the people mentioned as being involved in Elman Abules’ suspected scheme is Vladimir Avram, the honorary consul of Cyprus in Albania. His son, Arbër Avrami, has been running the public company “Albgaz” since 2018, which is owned by the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, the latter responsible for concessions or licenses in the energy sector.
Arbri’s father, Consul Avrami, during this period became a partner with Abule in the company “Virtus”, which has won the right to build a turbine for the production of wind energy in Puka. Abule and Boçi have also collaborated with Vladimir Avrami in other ventures. In the years 2018-2022 they were partners in the companies “Europa Building” and “Certification Service Albania”.
From scrap to construction at the Combine
A construction sign that was placed without notice during a weekend in April 2024 in the flowerbed along the “Llambi Bonata” road in Kombinat disturbed the residents of the area. The sign announced the construction of a new 7-story building in the flowerbed along the road.
The local community, affected by the consequences of the November 26, 2019 earthquake and the bureaucracies of reconstruction projects, reacted by demanding explanations as they had not been consulted about such a development.
The permit on the sign was dated January 10, 2024, by the mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj. The builder was listed as Elman Abule’s “Fidalba” company, which was expected to build in the flowerbed. But the permit on the sign had the address “Sabaudin Gabrani” street, not “Llambi Bonata”.
With this fact as an added argument for the claim that the permit was in violation, the residents opposed the workers who had come to cordon off the area. They requested a meeting with the leaders of the local unit and also with the project developers.
The permit for this project is no longer accessible on the website of the National Agency for Territorial Planning. The park is bordered by the footprint of a former five-story building, which the Municipality of Tirana demolished due to irreparable damage caused by the 2019 earthquake.
The residents of the building have been relocated to family and rental apartments. They will be relocated to another area, as the reconstruction program does not foresee the reconstruction of the building as it was in the same location.
Community representatives told “shteg.org” that they have asked the Municipality of Tirana not to move, but to rebuild their building in the same place on the corner of the park. The answer they received was that the area “is unsuitable for construction.”
But in the meantime, in the middle of the garden, the Municipality has granted permission for a new construction, the “Fidalba” project.
About a week after the sign was placed, on May 7, 2024, Elman Abule himself appears in the flowerbed on “Llambi Bonata” street . Accompanied by the project engineer, he begins to discuss with the residents, insisting that the permit procedures were regular and that the property in question was private.
Wearing a black leather jacket, with a tired look and an unshaven beard, Abule confronts the residents, who do not believe his assurance that “the project will occupy a small part of the garden” and that “all their requests for space will be met.” Feeling unsafe, he leaves the area with the help of several police officers.
The investment of the company “Fidalba” in the project in question was blocked by the Tirana Court on June 28 under suspicion that it is the product of money laundering.
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