Since Edi Rama came to power in 2013, his closest associates have faced justice, many of them convicted by court decision. Former ministers, mayors from all over the country and socialist or left-wing coalition MPs were included in the candidate lists despite their dark pasts. In 11 years of government, four ministers, dozens of mayors and members of Parliament have faced justice, and many others have been summoned to SPAK premises as persons with knowledge of the investigation. To date, former Deputy Prime Minister Arben Ahmetaj is the only one who has “escaped” the shackles and is declared internationally wanted.
Multi-million euro theft of EU funds
On the morning of July 4, 2024, former Minister of Health Ilir Beqaj entered the Tirana police premises in handcuffs, to be later transferred to detention cells, where he will face justice regarding the charges brought against him for major corruption with European Union funds.
Beqaj, one of the important political figures of the Socialist Party and a close associate of Prime Minister Rama since the Socialist Party came to power in 2013, was added to the long list of left-wing politicians who, since taking power in 2013 until today, continue to be accused, arrested, declared internationally wanted and sentenced.
The genesis of the investigation that ended with serious charges against Beqaj – corruption and undeclared income – was on September 6 last year, when criminal proceedings were registered against his right-hand man, Ermal Kurtulaj. Kurtulaj held the position of coordinator of EUSAIR, an EU-supported project managed by SASPAC (State Agency for Strategic Programming and Aid Coordination), of which Beqaj was the director.
Prosecutors from the Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime were able to prove during the investigation that Beqaj, in collaboration with Kurtulaj, ordered various companies to carry out fictitious procurement procedures worth millions of euros for services that were not performed, the money of which ended up at the “Gzona” restaurant in the capital, owned by Ilir Beqaj’s wife.
Meanwhile, the former Minister of Health is also being investigated by SPAK for the sterilization concession.
The incinerator affair
Former Albanian Deputy Prime Minister Arben Ahmetaj has had the status of an internationally wanted person since July 24, 2023. Ahmetaj, who held several important positions in the first 10 years of socialist governance, is accused of being a key figure in the incinerator affair, one of the largest in the history of Albania since the 1990s.
He is accused by SPAK of “Active corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials”, “Passive corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials”, “Laundering of the proceeds of a criminal offense or criminal activity” and “Refusal to declare, failure to declare, concealment or false declaration of assets, private interests of elected persons and public servants or of any other person who has a legal obligation to declare”.
From the investigations of the incinerators file, the financial damage of which has reached around 200 million euros, it was concluded that Ahmetaj has influenced through his actions or inactions the “ghost” business of Klodian Zoto and Mirel Mërtiri, owners in papers of the incinerators of Fier, Tirana and Elbasan. Since his escape in his public appearances, Ahmetaj has stated that “if SPAK were to properly investigate the Tirana incinerator, terrible truths would be revealed”, thus targeting the mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, another close associate of Prime Minister Rama, part of the investigations of the incinerators file, together with the Secretary General of the government, Engjëll Agaçi.
For the Fier and Elbasan incinerators, the greatest legal burden fell on the former Minister of Environment, Lefter Koka, who was sentenced to 5 years and 8 months for corruption and money laundering and 5 years of deprivation of the right to exercise public functions. The former Secretary General of the same ministry, Alqi Bllako, was declared innocent by the court.
Former minister “champion” of international drug trafficking
Saimir Tahiri is the longest-serving former minister in charge of one of the most important ministries in the country: the Interior Ministry. Tahiri, also a key figure in the Socialist Party, was convicted on February 4, 2022, of “abuse of office” by the Court of Appeal against Corruption and Organized Crime. He was put under investigation in 2017 on charges that, while in the position of Interior Minister, he had helped the “Habilaj” clan in Vlora, with whom he had distant family ties, to “calmly” continue international drug trafficking between Italy and Albania.
The majority of the investigations against Tahiri and the Habilaj brothers were conducted by the Italian prosecution, whose file mentioned at least four episodes of drug trafficking to Italy, episodes in which the then Minister of the Interior was suspected of being involved. One of the most controversial and flagrant episodes was the sale of the “Audi A8” car by Tahiri to one of the Habilaj brothers, a vehicle that was used by the latter for drug trafficking between the two countries. The prosecution requested 12 years of imprisonment for Tahiri, but the court found no evidence.
Tahiri is one of the collaborators whom the SP leader, who is also the prime minister, has defended most publicly and considered a champion in the leadership of the Ministry of Interior. “Since I became prime minister, I have communicated with Saimir Tahiri more than with my own son. I trusted him like everyone else, but as time has shown, he needed it more than others. Is Saimir Tahiri innocent?? I have never avoided this question. I have been Saimir Tahiri’s lawyer enough in the trials of our media and political arena. I have done it without ever asking him, and I am glad that he did not ask me this time either. I love Saimir, but today I want justice to tell me the truth more,” declared the head of government at the peak of the scandal.
Corrupt mayors
A significant number of mayors or communes in the country have faced charges of corruption and abuse of office since 2013. Among the most important arrests remains that of the mayor of Durrës, Vangjush Dako , elected since 2007 and leader of the coastal city for 3 mandates. Dako was arrested in June 2023 on charges of abuse of office, along with five municipal officials and a builder. He was investigated for two separate cases: the first had to do with the tender for the construction of a promenade and the second with the granting of a building permit for a palace. The municipality he led has been consistently part of the violations found by the Supreme State Audit, where the damages amounted to hundreds of millions of lek. Previously, Vangjush Dako had been declared “persona non grata” by the US State Department due to “major corruption.” Dako was a key political figure for the Socialist Party in the Durrës region, often criticized for his connections to the criminal gangs of Shijak, with whom he was suspected of collaborating during election campaigns.
Part of the long list of local elected officials investigated and convicted is also the former mayor of Kukës, Safet Gjici, who in exchange for sexual favors in his office promised to award a tender for the city’s stray dogs; the former acting mayor of Himara, George Goro, for violation of equality in tenders; former mayor of Lushnja, Fatos Tushe, arrested in his office after investigations into alleged violations of equality in tenders; former mayor of Bulqiza, Lefter Alla, convicted of violating equality in tenders and forgery, as well as a number of other mayors, against whom investigations continue.
Traffickers in Parliament and Municipality
In the first socialist mandate, for the first time, candidates for the Parliament and the country’s municipalities included people with dangerous criminal records, such as murder, international drug trafficking, human trafficking, participation in criminal organizations, theft and other serious charges. Tomë Doshi , Arben Ndoka , Mark Frroku and Armando Prenga , all with voluminous criminal records from the past, became part of the Albanian parliament.
In July of last year, an investigation by the Organization for Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) revealed that MP Tomë Doshi, a powerful Albanian businessman and politician with ties to the country’s prime minister, runs an organized crime ring involved in money laundering, drug trafficking and other crimes in Australia. The investigation cited confidential intelligence reports that revealed that Doshi’s clan, based in Shkodër, had systematically abused Australia’s immigration system, building “an entire Albanian organized crime network” across South Australia. According to Australian intelligence, Albanian clans, starting in 2000, used false identities and close ties to immigration agents to smuggle people to Australia, then set up cells in Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth and elsewhere. In the dossier, Doshi is described as the “head” of a group “made up mainly of his extended family.” (Link to original article: https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/influential-albanian-politician-led-organized-crime-group-in-australia-intelligence-reports-claim )
The name of Arben Ndoka and his participation in a criminal organization, as well as ordering paid murders, emerged in the latest “Sky Ecc” wiretaps in the “Metamorphosis” file. He has been declared internationally wanted since May of this year. Mark Frroku was another incriminated MP, sitting in the Albanian Parliament. Accused of many serious criminal offenses in Belgium, including murder and human trafficking, Frroku managed to enter Albanian politics. A few months ago he was arrested for a property in Cape Rodoni, where there was a gunfight between a group of 8 people, and was released only a few days later. Armando Prenga also entered Parliament even though he had a conviction in Italy for theft and forgery of documents. He was involved in a conflict between two families over property in the Patoku Lagoon while serving as an MP, when he was charged with “intentional minor injury”, “possession of weapons and ammunition” and “threats”.
Valdrin Pjetri , the former SP candidate for the Shkodra municipality, resigned after forging a decriminalization form. Pjetri was convicted in Italy in 2003 for drug trafficking. Another name is the former mayor of Vora, Agim Kajmaku , who was handcuffed by Italian police in May 2022 with 20 kilograms of cocaine hidden in flower pots.
A short time ago, the mayor of Libohova, Leonard Hida , was accused of “abuse of office” after, during his time as head of crimes at the Gjirokastra police station, he is suspected of favoring the cultivation of narcotics in several villages in the district in exchange for receiving bribes.
