DREAM / The Prime Minister resigns and wakes up under the Parisian bridge!

 Kliko këtu për të tjera
Voxpress:

Edi Rama rewards the "fish of KÇK" on Lungomare after the former judge's partnership with Kastrati

2022-10-31 19:37:37Fokus SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

 

Edi Rama rewards the "fish of KÇK" on Lungomare after the
Illustration Lungomare

 

After a long battle for expropriation, Prime Minister Edi Rama and the Municipality of Vlora rewarded the fuel of the former judge dismissed from the veting, Shkëlzen Selimi, with the change of the Lungomare project - after the latter's partnership with the company "Kastrati".

While the citizens of Vlora were confined to their homes due to traffic restrictions, an excavator appeared in Lungomare and, after uprooting a palm tree, opened a new construction pit on the asphalt in the evenings between April 20 and 25.

The patching of Lungomare on account of a fuel was met with anger by citizens of Vlonia, who protested on April 27 against the intervention, despite the ban on gatherings as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic.

"It is a scandal. Millions of euros were spent and the construction took so long that the businesses [around] went bankrupt. And how can this public property be destroyed as if without any harm in the middle of the day and night?! And when?" asks Ervin Sota, owner of a service unit a few blocks down the promenade, indignantly.

The construction site in Lungomare was intended to build a tent for a fuel, which, unlike hundreds of other businesses in the area, survived the wave of demolitions and expropriations of 2014.

Prime Minister Edi Rama responded to the anger of the citizens with accusations against the justice system, while calling the fuel "one of the KÇK's fish" in comments to his followers on Facebook. But contrary to the claim, BIRN discovered that Rama signed the Lungomare patch in favor of the fuel of a former judge dismissed from vetingu - part of the justice group that he ironically refers to as the "KÇK organization".

The data provided by BIRN show that the fuel in Lungomare is owned by the former judge of the Supreme Court, Shkëlzen Selimi, and the largest hydrocarbon company in the country, "Kastrati" sh.pk.

The Prime Minister signed the permit for the construction of the tent in the capacity of the chairman of the National Council of the Territory in May 2019; just a few months after the Selimi family sold half of the property to the company "Kastrati" sh.pk

The partnership of former judge Selimi with the company "Kastrati" is not the only change that preceded the intervention in Lungomare. BIRN also learned that the municipality of Vlora asked the Belgian company to modify the project to make room for the gas station in Lungomare, while also giving the facility 58 m2 of public space for rent.

Former judge Shkëlzen Selimi denied allegations that the construction of the tent was abusive, while telling BIRN that his fuel survived the expropriation, after winning a legal battle against the Council of Ministers in court.

"Unlike other businesses that were silent and accepted the expropriation, I struck the process as illegal and declared it invalid," said Selimi. "I didn't do the fuel now, it's been there since 2000. I bought it in 2013," he added.

The mayor of Vlora, Dritan Leli, told BIRN that the intervention in the promenade was forced due to the failure of the legal possibilities of expropriation. Leli did not comment on the reasons why he gave the fuel another 58 m2 of public space for rent.

Even Prime Minister Edi Rama defended the intervention in Lungomare on Wednesday.

"The gas station has been there and it's just turning from a wasteland left on the road, into a facility integrated with the project by Lungomare's own Belgian architect," Rama told followers on Facebook.

The legal battle over fuel 

Edi Rama rewards the "fish of KÇK" on Lungomare after the
The decision of the KKT for the permission to reconstruct the gas station in Lungomare

The promenade on the coast of Vlora is the "flagship" project of the Urban Renaissance and has so far cost around 15.5 million euros. The main project of 9.4 million euros was financed by the IPA funds of the European Union, while the rest by the Albanian government, through the Albanian Development Fund.

Despite the expropriations, Lungomare's bill is estimated at around 30 million euros.

In 2014, the government razed dozens of buildings, bars and restaurants built near the coastline and in the footprint of the future Lungomare. In a demonstrative way, the Ion complex, built by the relatives of the head of the Democratic Party, was demolished with explosives - a move that cost Albania 13.2 million euros in the Strasbourg Court.

The fuel owned by former judge Shkëlzen Selimi and his father escaped this wave. Selimi bought the fuel jointly with his father in 2013 when he was still a member of the Supreme Court. According to his wealth declarations, the property cost 250,000 euros and was bought partly with a loan and partly with the money earned from the sale of a previous apartment.

In May 2014, the government issued the decision for the expropriation in the public interest of the assets affected by the construction of the Skele-Ujë i Ftohte road segment in Vlora, among which Selim's fuel was a part.

But the judge did not accept the decision and sued the Council of Ministers first in the Administrative Court of Vlora and then in the Administrative Court of Appeal.

Selimi told BIRN that he sued the expropriation process, as the value of the compensation was 1/3 of the price he had paid to buy the fuel in 2013. He also added that the fuel had been saved from spoilage, as he had obtained an insurance lawsuit in court.

Court records show that after the decision in the first instance, Shkëlzen Selimi filed a lawsuit in the Administrative Court of Appeal - where his wife works as a judge. On November 18, 2015, the Appeal decided the acceptance of the lawsuit and the partial annulment of the VKM for the expropriation of the fuel owned by Shkëlzen and Kujtim Selim.

In June 2016, the government countered with an appeal to the Supreme Court, but failed. The decision not to accept the appeal was taken when Selimi was still a member of the Supreme Court.

He was dismissed from office by the Independent Qualification Commission on July 30, 2018 for "connection with organized crime", a decision which was later upheld by the Special Appeals Panel.

Selimi denied the suspicions that he was favored because of his or his wife's position in a telephone conversation with BIRN, while he said that he had not been treated differently from other businesses in the area.

"Neither I nor my wife have participated in these cases," said the former judge.

Selimi told BIRN that the decision of the Administrative Court of Appeal was similar to the decision of the Strasbourg Court on the expropriation of the "Jon" complex.

"The only difference is that I hit him in court, the others were silent and accepted the expropriation," said Selimi.

The former judge also disputed the idea that he may have benefited from the government. "I did not agree with this government or with Edi Rama, who I consider somehow responsible for the dismissal from the court," said Selimi, referring to the permit for the construction of the tent.

Partnership with the company "Kastrati"

Edi Rama rewards the "fish of KÇK" on Lungomare after the
Fuel in Lungomare being reconstructed after the permission given by KKT

The failure to expropriate the former judge Shkëlzen Selimi and his father was also accepted by the mayor of Vlora, Dritan Leli. He said that when the expropriation was not achieved, the municipality decided to change the project, so that it would fit better with the fuel that remained as part of the road.

Leli told BIRN that they had approached the Belgian studio that did the Lungomare project and they had proposed building a tent over the fuel.

"In the conditions where legally a solution was not found, we asked the Belgian designer of Lungomare to adapt a project, which would make the gas station more acceptable for the public work," said Leli. But he did not comment on the leasing of public property.

Documents obtained by BIRN show that the government and the municipality of Vlora changed their minds about the facility after two years had passed since the failure of the appeal to the Supreme Court.

Before reaching this point, Kujtim Selimi, the father of the former Supreme Court judge, sold his part of the property to the "Kastrati" company in January 2019.

Five months after the sale of the shares, the National Council of the Territory, at the request of the "Kastrati" company, approved the permit for the reconstruction of the fuel. Permission was also approved to change the design of the Lungomare, adding a cross-shaped canopy over the design.

In the decision of the KKT, it is also stated that the gas station rents 58 square meters from the Municipality of Vlora, which would be used for the new structure.

For activists opposed to allowing fuel on the boardwalk, the decision to give it even available public space is abuse. By Wednesday, an online petition to stop construction had been signed by more than 1,700 people.

"These are our pet dogs, that at the time when the citizens of Vlonia are forced to lock themselves up, they destroy public property like pirate robbers," said Ervin Sota, a participant of the April 27 protest.

Even the activist Arben Abazi considers the use of public property abusive.

"That fuel is a time mine under a building that has residents and in the middle of a populated promenade," Abazi told BIRN. Abazi was escorted twice by the Vlora Police for organizing the protest and breaking the quarantine, violating traffic rules.

Florian Brahimaj, one of the initiators of the online petition, also told BIRN that the intervention violated the bicycle lane and that now, the sidewalk ends inside the gas station.

"Fuel should not have been allowed as a type of business (in Lungomare), as Lungomare is a segment with limited traffic access, therefore the law does not allow it," said Brahimaj. He said they would request that the permit be suspended and that the boardwalk be restored to its previous condition.

Protesters' objections, however, fell on deaf ears. Two days after the protest, the construction of the tent is almost complete, while the fence has been removed. Work in the facility is continuing to put the fuel pumps into operation./ BIRN

Galeria fotografike (
)


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

Video

SHIKO KANALIN NE YOUTUBE
×