Confiscations on paper: How the luxury resort was returned to the hands of the Balili family

In November 2017, dozens of police forces surrounded the resort "Santa Quaranta" by the sea of ??Saranda in implementation of a seizure decision based on the "Antimafia" law.

Spread over about 30,000 square meters, the resort, which had served as a workers' rest camp during the communist regime, was managed by Bashkim Balili, the older brother of Kelmend Balili - known as the "Escobar of the Balkans" and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2019 for international drug trafficking.

After the seizure, the "Santa Quaranta" resort served as a valuable asset for the Seized and Confiscated Property Administration Agency, AAPSK in generating revenue. But seven years later, the resort has returned to the previous owner, Bashkim Balili, while AAPSK is in a court process to determine what will be its tax share of 40% of the building.

Data obtained by BIRN through court documents show that the return of the resort to the hands of the Balili family was made possible by a decision of the Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime in September 2020, which freed the company that managed the resort and confiscated in favor of the state only 40% of the object.

Awaiting the court's decision on which part of the hotel will belong to the state, the director of AAPSK, Idriz Haxhiaj, told BIRN that they had reached an agreement with Balili to rent the premises for 5 months during the summer season, cashing in favor of the state 12 thousand euros per month.

Haxhiaj also added that the lease contract stipulates that Balili undertakes the storage and a symbolic monthly rent for the rest of the year, saving the Agency, according to him, the storage with private police.

"This agreement was reached after two years of wrangling, as well as an ongoing civil process for the in-kind proportion of the ideal share of each, 60% Balili and 40% state," Idrizaj said.

The "Santa Quaranta" resort is only one of the seized properties that is returned to the previous owner.

Due to complicated judicial decisions in implementation and the lack of interest from individuals and state institutions to buy or use the properties confiscated from organized crime, many of them end up again in the hands of these groups.

Asked by BIRN, Bashkim Balili did not respond to a request for comment until the publication of the article.

Verdict: 60% legal property

Building of the Special Court Against Corruption and Organized Crime. Photo LSA
Seizure and confiscation of assets is considered one of the strongest weapons in the fight against organized crime. Only during 2023, the Special Prosecutor's Office, SPAK declares that it has seized and confiscated properties, real estate and businesses with a value calculated at 41 million euros, according to a presentation that the head of SPAK made to the High Council of Prosecution.

Over the past three years, law enforcement agencies have targeted properties of questionable origin through the Anti-Mafia Act, provisions of the Penal Code and the controversial Operation Force of the Law – imposing a total of 163 confiscation orders.

But this is not the case of the luxury resort "Santa Quaranta".

The process against Klement Balili's property was started in November 2017 by the Prosecution for Serious Crimes, which identified and seized a plot of land with an area of ??11,994 m2 in the city of Saranda, Santa Quaranta resort with a construction area of ??1923 m2 and a plot area of ??13,000 m2, a plot of 1716.91 m2 in Saranda as well as dozens of apartments and a commercial unit.

The Santa Quaranta Premium Resort company that managed the hotel was placed under seizure, which passed from Bashkim Balili to the Seized and Confiscated Property Administration Agency.

But during the confiscation trial, the Special Court decided on September 21, 2020 to confiscate only 40% of the properties seized from Balili, recognizing the other 60% of these properties as legitimate sources.

According to the Court's decision that BIRN has, the prosecutor of the case, Ened Nakuçi, requested the complete confiscation of the "Santa Quaranta" resort and the land it owns, while for the apartments, he requested the revocation of the seizure measure. While the lawyer of the Balili brothers, Sokol Hazizaj asked for the rejection of the prosecutor's request for the confiscation of "Santa Quaranta", while expressing his agreement for the revocation of the measure from the apartments.

Judge Iliriana Olldashi of the Special Court did not give the right to any of the parties and made a different assessment from them.

Kelmend Balili was a person investigated in 2005 by the former Prosecutor's Office for Serious Crimes for the criminal offense "Trafficking in narcotics", carried out in collaboration, but the proceedings were stopped in January 2007 due to insufficient evidence.

According to the decision of Judge Olldashi, the date of Balili's first arrest on July 16, 2006 was taken as an indication of his involvement in the criminal activity of organized crime. For this reason, the court charged the Balili brothers with the burden of proof to prove the legality of the sources of wealth after July 16, 2006.

Based on this reasoning, Olldashi has estimated that since 2006, the "Santa Quaranta" resort and other assets have been attached to illegal assets that are suspected to derive from criminal activity, to the extent of 40% of their total value.

"From the moment of the creation of this property with the period of the implementation of preventive measures against this property including the seizure and then with this judgment the confiscation, the property has undergone changes from the initial state increasing its construction value, as well as in the market, the illegal origin of 40% of it was joined with legal assets, such as the reconstruction of the former Workers' Camp and the construction of apartments," the decision reads.

The court assesses that in this case the confiscation of equivalent property is applied according to Article 12/a of the law called 'Antimafia', where it is determined that seizure and confiscation is also applied "when the illegal property is incorporated with legal property and cannot be divided from it without causing substantial damage".

The court found the prosecutor Nakuçi's request to revoke the seizure of the apartments in the name of Bashkim Balili unfounded and decided to confiscate 16 apartments to the extent of 40%. For 18 other apartments listed in the decision, the sequestration measure was revoked, as they were purchased by third parties who were assessed as legal owners.

Prosecutor Ened Nakuçi did not appeal the court's decision, while an appeal filed by the Balili brothers was later withdrawn to the Court of Appeal, upholding the first-instance decision that recognized 60% of the resort and its land as legal. .

'Sold for 5 ALL'

The luxury resort "Santa Quaranta" was inaugurated in August 2015 in the presence of senior politicians of the majority and was called by them "an extraordinary serious investment". But two years later, the hotel was seized as the property of the family circle of Klemend Balili, wanted at the time on charges of international drug trafficking. Balili was later sentenced to 10 years in prison.

After the confiscation decision in November 2017, the "Santa Quaranta" resort passed into the administration of AAPSK and the owner Bashkim Balili was replaced by the administrators Arjan Baci and Erion Riçku in the extract of the company "Santa Quaranta Premium Resort" shp.k in KKB. The company was administered by the state until March 8, 2022, when it was again returned to Balili.

Erion Riçku, one of the former administrators and Head of Legal and Institutional Relations at AAPSK, told BIRN that the Agency generated income of over 2 million euros from resort management, managing to conclude contracts with German and Nordic agencies even during the pandemic period. .

He also added that the seasonal profit after deducting expenses amounted to 300 to 500 thousand euros, 40% of which went to the account of the state after the confiscation decision. Riçku explained that after the confiscation decision, when the former owner owns most of the real estate, as well as based on a court decision to revoke the seizure for the company, the latter was returned to the former administrator Balili.

"The civil process is still ongoing in the Court of Saranda for the distribution of the property, according to the determinations of the decision of the Special Court," he said. The other former administrator of AAPSK, Arjan Baci, told BIRN that the confiscated and still unidentified part of the building was leased to Bashkim Balili. He said that the total rental value for the entire facility and the villas has been calculated as a 40% rental of the total value.

The implementation of the court decision for the "Santa Quaranta" resort is one of the complicated cases, but not the only one where the Seized and Confiscated Assets Administration Agency was forced to return them to their previous owners.

According to the head of AAPSK, Idriz Haxhiaj, after a property is confiscated, state institutions are informed if they can use it for public purposes and if there is no interest, the property is auctioned.

But Haxhiaj emphasized that public institutions do not show interest, while citizens do not approach these properties because they are afraid of conflicts, opening the way for their return to the old owners through auctions.

"The legislation does not prevent the former owners from competing in the auctions, which were confiscated because they are involved in organized crime and sold to them for five lek," said Haxhiaj, adding that he had forwarded to the Ministry of Economy 30 property files confiscated for auction procedures.

"And the European practice has shown that these assets reach the former owners for symbolic values ??and for this reason, internationals suggest that they remain the property of the state," he concluded. /reporter.al