
About 70 children of a public kindergarten in the city of Gramsh presented themselves to the hospital earlier this week with severe poisoning symptoms, such as vomiting, fever and abdominal pain.
The first suspicions of the health authorities are related to a poisoning caused by the bacterium salmonella, while laboratory tests are still in the process to confirm the source and extent of the contamination.
According to sources from the field, the authorities have taken samples of the food served at the institution, as well as from the water and kitchen facilities.
One of the main leads of the investigation is the catering food supplier, the company "Nelsa shpk", which according to official documents has won the tender for the supply of kindergartens and kindergartens in the municipality of Gramsh since June 2023.
The contract with this company is valid for 24 months and provides for the daily supply of educational centers for children, including the high school dormitory, with high-quality food products.
According to "Balkanweb", the company "Nelsa shpk" has a long history of involvement in public tenders, not only in the municipality of Gramsh, but also in several other cities of the country and in state institutions in Tirana.
In addition to supplying food to kindergartens, kindergartens and high school dormitories in the municipality of Gramsh, "Nelsa shpk" supplies food to hospitals and prisons.
Many of these tenders have been marked with a "red flag" in the public procurement system, a warning signal for a lack of transparency, poor competition, or suspicions of irregularities in procedures.
"Nelsa shpk" turns out to be currently owned by Elsa Kamberi (Balla), but the founder and initial owner is her father, Nexhmi Balla, a well-known name for Albanian justice.
In 2016, Balla was arrested along with several other businessmen and senior prison officials for a major corruption scandal involving the manipulation of food tenders at the General Directorate of Prisons.
In addition to Nexhmi Balla, businessmen Ylber Kalaja and Shemsi Sinani, as well as the general director of prisons at the time, Artur Zoto, and his deputy Iljaz Labi, were also arrested. Their companies had allocated high-value tenders through corrupt schemes.
After this scandal, to ensure the continuity of economic activity, Balla handed over the ownership and management of the company to his daughter, Elsa, a maneuver known in the world of corruption-related businesses, to avoid legal penalties and maintain public contracts.