After the scandal in Peqin prison, AlbaScan takes the tender for the Guard's communication equipment, how the Jorgjis brothers grew up and turned into a "lube" of public funds

The AlbaScan company of brothers Elton and Elision Jorgjis, involved in one of the most serious security scandals in Albanian prisons, has secured the next contract from the state budget.

Together with "Laviva Technologies" shpk, this company has won the Republic Guard tender for the supply of communication and electronic equipment, with a value of 38,312,200 lek excluding VAT, or 94.48% of the anticipated limit fund of 40,550,000 lek.

The tender was conducted through a restricted procedure, in the field of defense and security, with a lack of transparency for the public and seemingly without competition.

The company "AES Communication" shpk was initially entered into the competition, which qualified in the first phase, but did not submit a bid in the second phase of the evaluation, leaving the consortium "Laviva - AlbaScan" alone in the competition.

The failure of a qualified operator to appear and withdraw from the competition without a concrete explanation has raised suspicions of a predetermined tender.

Peqin Scandal: Money bags for security, but the scanner was out of order

“AlbaScan” has become known to the public for another tender, that of maintaining the security system in prisons. The scandal erupted when in the Peqin prison, a prisoner who committed a sensational murder inside the penal institution, it turned out that he had brought in a weapon without being checked. The scanner that was supposed to identify the weapon was not working, while some security cameras were also out of order.

For this failed service, "AlbaScan" continues to receive money from the state. In January alone, the company received around 278 thousand euros from the treasury for the maintenance of security equipment in prisons.

In the same month, also for prison security systems, AlbaScan received around 300 thousand euros, this time from AKSHI.

In total, "AlbaScan" benefits from around 300 thousand euros per month from citizens' taxes for security systems in prisons, even when they are not functioning.

But so far, no one has been held accountable for the failure of these systems that left a victim behind and rocked the penitentiary system.

From a small company to a public fund lobby

Founded in 2017 with a turnover of just 50 thousand euros, “AlbaScan” has experienced rapid growth after being acquired in 2019 by brothers Elton and Elision Jorgji for just 150 thousand lekë. Since then, the company's annual turnover has reached staggering figures, reaching around 2 million euros per month from public contracts.

From 2019 to now, the company has received around 35 million euros in contracts from the state budget.

But the growth has not come alone. “AlbaScan” has competed and won in partnership with the company “Advanced Business Solutions”, denounced by the opposition as linked to the prime minister’s inner circle. Both companies have together won tenders worth tens of millions of euros, including:

6 million euros for prison security,
16 million euros for smart laboratories in schools,
other contracts for surveillance systems and digital equipment.

While public money goes to these companies, more and more cases show that the systems they are supposed to maintain do not function, while any kind of punishment or direct institutional investigation is lacking./ skyweb.al