
The Law on Public Procurement prohibits the awarding of tenders to companies with convicted owners or administrators, but the data provided by INA Media show that companies with convicted owners or under investigation also benefited from the Reconstruction, from traffic narcotics, fiscal evasion and corruption of high officials.
At the end of August 2024, the mayor, Erion Veliaj, announced the casting of the second lottery for housing beneficiaries in the May 5 area through a video, where he appeared as the famous character Spiderman.
"There was no other way to enter, since the entrance to the palace is occupied by the inerts of the collapse in 2021 and 2022. Entering as Spiderman was the only way to enter the palace and not reveal the situation", - says a resident on the condition of anonymity, as he waits for the lot to be drawn for the allocation of apartments.
However, he has little hope that the lot will actually be cast, but links this exit to the expiration of the deadlines that residents have to challenge in court the way the houses were demolished to make way for one of the new reconstruction areas in Tirana.
"The short term is being used by politics, so that residents do not take the case to court, as the deadline expires on September 21. Out of 220 demolished flats, only 15-20 people have turned to the court, most of them are reluctant, because they were promised houses in the next lottery, but so far none of the residents of May 5 have benefited", he says.
Named Tirana River Side, May 5 was declared a new construction zone by the Albanian government after the 2019 earthquake.
While the institutions boast about the quality of construction, the data collected by INA Media prove that they were built by companies that have problems with the law.
At the top of the list is Alesio 2014, with owner Anton Gjinajn, who received a final sentence from the Spanish court. He has won 3 tenders as a union of operators in Tirana, on May 5, worth 12.5 million euros, while he has also signed large contracts with the municipalities of Kruja and Lezha; but Alesio 2014 is not the only company with problems with the law that has benefited from the reconstruction process. A series of court decisions and official data researched by INA Media show that at least 9 companies with criminal records are the biggest beneficiaries of the reconstruction projects.
In total, over 170 million euros* from the reconstruction fund have gone to companies whose owners have had problems with the law, ranging from participation in criminal organizations to corruption of high officials.
The discovery of the criminal records of the owner of the company Alesio 2014, but also of other companies seems to be "favored" by the law.
According to the legal expert, Elvana Tivari, the Public Procurement Law and the normative act of the government do not foresee any stop for the continuation of the development of public contracts, even though the owners of the companies can be punished by the court.
"When the final punishment for these criminal offenses occurs, after the contract has been awarded and is being implemented, neither the Law on Public Procurement nor the Normative Act of Reconstruction have provided for the possibility of terminating the contract in such circumstances", - says Tivari, lawyer specialized in public contracts.
Estimated to cost 1.15 billion euros, so far the reconstruction has cost the state budget 900 million euros, but it is expected to last at least another 4 years.
In order to cope with the consequences of the natural disaster, on December 16, 2019, the government adopted a normative act, through which it was decided that the public procurement process would be developed with a limited procedure.
When the 5th year of the declaration of the state of natural disaster and the adoption of the normative act is approaching, the Albanian institutions still continue to procure public money in an emergency, without opening a competition, as well as with limited procedures.
The government continues to consider itself in an extreme emergency rather than a moderate emergency or a normal situation, applying a special procurement law.
"I think it is a mismanaged program, which created corruption with public money", says Aranita Brahaj, director of AIS.
"Criminals" of reconstruction funds
With an estimated investment of 75 million euros and dubious procedures, for 3 months (in April 2020), the Municipality of Tirana approved the forced, local plan for the May 5 area. It used the municipal forces and the State Police to demolish around 430 houses and open 580 thousand square meters of construction area.
The project envisages the construction of 51 residential buildings with 3,500 apartments for housing 11,000 families, including those affected by the earthquake. The procurement procedure also started at such a fast pace. During the month of August, the opening of the tender procedures was announced in one day, and ten days later the winners were announced.
Precisely in these hectic days of tenders, the company Alesio 2014, with owner Anton Gjinajn, convicted by the Spanish court for drug trafficking, was selected as the winner by the Municipality of Tirana.
This company, together with Nova Construction 2012, will build 2 of the 51 buildings, namely buildings A15, section 1 and A15, section 2, with a fund of 852 million lek (8.5 million euros).
At that time, the owner of this company, Anton Gjinaj, was known as a powerful construction businessman, but the documents show that in 2010 he appeared in the records of the State Police. In Spain, he was sentenced to eight years and nine months in prison for trafficking 50 kg of heroin, while in Albania, due to the change of name to Pashke Gjinaj, he enjoyed the status of a businessman.
A few months after signing the contracts with the Municipality of Tirana, he was arrested in April 2021 on account of Interpol Madrid.
3 months after the arrest, in June 2021, the Municipality of Tirana concluded another contract with this company as part of the consortium Inerti sh.pk, Alesio 2014 and Ferro Beton & Construction Co, with a fund of 409 million lek for internal infrastructure of the May 5 area. Only from the Municipality of Tirana this company benefited as part of consortia 12.5 million euros before the reconstruction.
In July 2022, the Serious Crimes Court ordered the seizure of 23 registered properties owned by Anton Gjin, including the Alesio 2014 company.
The prosecution says that from the analysis of the facts and the administered documentation regarding the assets of the citizen Anton (Pashuk) Gjinaj (Gjini) and his family members, "they are suspected to have acquired them as a result of his criminal activity that he has developed in Albania and Spain".
And while Gjini was facing justice, the buildings in the 5 Maji district have completed the work on the carabiner, while the real estate agents told INA Media that currently the apartments there are sold for 1,400 euros per square meter. But, at the same time, the residents of the area doubt that they can be sold, since, according to them, even those who have benefited by lottery from the municipality, do not yet have property titles; however, they say that you can take advantage of it for social housing.
"Don't bother to buy, because they will deceive you. We have been entered by lottery for two years by the municipality and it refuses to transfer the property to us in our name. But if you find the right way to the municipality, you can pay some cash and get it as a social housing", says a resident who took shelter there, after their building was damaged by the earthquake.
Tirana City Hall did not respond to a request for comment regarding the "fate" of the buildings built by Alesio in 2014, but the Crime Asset Seizure Agency says they "are owned by the contracting authority."
The May 5 projects are not the only contracts that the company has benefited from the reconstruction fund.
Alesio 2014 has also benefited from two more contracts from the municipalities of Lezha and Kruja worth about 2.9 million euros for the reconstruction process. But, even though he is in prison and serving his sentence at the expense of Spanish justice, Gjini has continued to benefit from payments from public funds. Even after his assets were seized by the Special Court of First Instance for Corruption and Organized Crime in July 2022, according to Open Data data, Alesio 2014 has benefited from approximately 53 million Lek payments from the State Treasury.
According to the Agency for the Administration of Seized Assets, which has been administering this property since 2022, "it is about the work guarantees for previous contracts".
The agency boasts that it has managed to manage this company well and to make its finances sound. Referring to the financial statements, filed with the National Business Center, in 2023 Alesio 2014 collected about 2 billion lek or 20 million euro more than in 2022. For 2023 the capital increased to 9.7 billion lek from 7.6 billion that was in the previous year.
The year's profit in the amount of 77 million ALL has not been distributed, as the Assembly has decided to keep it for investment within the company, bringing the undistributed profit to 304 million ALL.
Elvana Tivari, legal expert, says that participation in tenders, including those for reconstruction, is prohibited only in cases where there is a final punishment decision.
"The arrest or imposition of seizure are actions of the investigation phase and as such, at least according to the Public Procurement Law and the Normative Act of Reconstruction, they do not constitute an automatic reason for the non-award or termination of the implementation of the contract", she says.
"This does not exclude the possibilities that the prosecuting body has, to stop the deepening of the consequences of the criminal offense through the imposition of a measure of preventive seizure, but this must be evaluated by the prosecution case by case, depending on the concrete circumstances", - explains Tivari.
The Agency for the Administration of Seized and Confiscated Assets, which is currently administering the company, said it reports to the Special Court of First Instance for Organized Crime and Corruption, the Special Prosecutor's Office and the chief administrator of the Seized Assets Agency. and Confiscated.
The Alesio 2014 company is not the only one with "black" records in reconstruction programs.
Dajti Park 2007 is another company, with an owner convicted of corruption, which has won 15.5 million euro tenders from the reconstruction.
The Law on Public Procurement prohibits the participation in tenders of companies that have a partner convicted of corruption and serious, criminal offenses or of persons who may have control over the company's decision-making. This has not prevented Dajti Park 2007 from being one of the 6 firms that have benefited the most from the reconstruction tenders, using the donation of shares to his family members as a rescue.
The documents show that Ylber Kalaja, the former owner of this company, is in the files of the former Serious Crimes Prosecutor's Office. It is not about the distant past, but about 2 years before the signing of the contracts for the reconstruction funds.
Businessman Kalaja was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison by the Court of Appeal for Serious Crimes in November 2018, after he was found guilty on charges of corruption of senior officials of the Directorate of Prisons in exchange for winning food tenders, but the issue is complained.
At the start of the investigation, the businessman Kalaja changed the name of his company from Vllaznia to Dajti Park in 2007 and, after being sentenced by the court, at the end of 2018 he donated 50% of the shares to his son, Desart Kala, and the rest to Lulzim Qefalia , the brother of the socialist deputy, Xhemal Qefalia.
This company has won 4 tenders, of which 3 contracts as a union of operators, from the Albanian Development Fund worth 11 million euros, and a contract from the Municipality of Tirana worth 4.5 million euros for the design of the reconstruction project in the Kombinat area.
Despite the efforts to contact it, the Dajti Park 2007 company was not reachable at the contact addresses stated at the CKB.
Also, Arian Tukut, owner of Eurocompany sh.pk, established in 2018, has been entrusted with the reconstruction process with large contracts. The company has benefited 1.5 million euros from June 2021 to December 2022, while, according to the prosecution file, in November 2020 he was suspected of having trafficked in Montenegro 168 kg of cannabis sativa, which were seized by the authorities Montenegrin. In May 2024, the "businessman" was arrested in Italy by order of SPAK.
From SPAK's investigations, it appears that Tuku, 36 years old, from Lezha, tried to kill Aleks Ndreka, as well as provided the conditions to carry out the murder of Durim Bami, both of these characters of the world of crime. Tuku is believed to have committed these criminal acts on account of Arben Ndokë (with whom he has a family relationship), the former deputy of the SP, who is also wanted, as SPAK has issued an arrest warrant against him.
Another company with shareholders, whose past is in the records of the justice system, is Ferro Beton & Construction Co. The company is owned by Ilir Shtufi and Mark Luli, who is registered for high tonnage car traffic.
It turns out that Luli is also a person with a criminal record, since in 2013 he tried to kill two officers of the special forces, RENEA.
The company, where Luli is a co-owner, takes the second place for winning projects from the reconstruction program as a merger of operators with Ante Group and Ferro Beton & Construction Co.
This union of operators has won four contracts through the Albanian Development Fund, with a total value of 2 billion and 413 million ALL. Meanwhile, Ferro Beton has had 3 other collaborations within the reconstruction program, with a total value of 1.28 billion ALL.
Neither of these companies could be reached for comment, as the email addresses and contact numbers listed on their official websites were down.
Asked about its knowledge of the past of the owners of the companies in question and their involvement in the reconstruction process, the Press Office of the Prime Minister delegated our request for comment to the Ministry of Infrastructure with the claim that, "it does not have the information of requested". Until the moment of publication of this material, the Ministry of Infrastructure did not give any comment.
Law 162/2020 "On Public Procurement" (LPP), which entered into force on March 31, 2021, in Article 76 determines that any economic operator who is or has been convicted by a final court decision for criminal offenses: corruption, fraud, money laundering, forgery, terrorist financing or participation in a structured, criminal group, etc.
The obligation to disqualify an economic operator applies, even when the person convicted by a final court decision is a member of an administrative body, its manager or supervisor, shareholder or partner, or has representative, decision-making or controlling powers within it.
In the case of reconstruction procedures, in Normative Act No. 9, dated 16.12.2019 "For coping with the consequences of the natural disaster", it is determined that the qualification and evaluation criteria are drawn up according to the procurement legislation, but the specific provisions of the Normative Act prevail over the LPP.
In this Normative Act, in Article 42, it is determined that any economic operator is disqualified from the procedure for selecting winners of public contracts, if the company itself or a member of an administrative body, manager or supervisor, shareholder or partner, or a person with representative, decision-making powers or controller, is or has been convicted by a final court decision for the same offenses listed in the Law on Public Procurement, adding also "organization, management or financing of the activity of production and sale of narcotics, as well as the activity of drug trafficking".
Referring to these legal provisions, the companies, partners or administrators whose, at the time of the said procedures, have been convicted by a final decision for any of the listed offenses, including drug trafficking, should have been disqualified from these procedures.
Fiscal evaders
At the beginning of 2018, the Prosecutor's Office of Elbasan charged the owners of the company Vëllezërit Hysa sh.pk with "Theft by abusing duty, in cooperation", where Agron and Kujtim Hysa were arrested.
The prosecution claimed that the Elbasan-Gjinar road axis, where they were engaged as subcontractors, lacked 7.2 million lek of work volume, paid from the state budget. Together with the Hysa brothers, the Prosecutor's Office of Elbasan also ordered the arrest of two former managers of the Albanian Road Authority, Dashamir Xhika and Andi Toma.
The Hysa brothers quickly gained their freedom, after the court overturned the "Prison arrest" security measure against them. While in the Court of Elbasan since September 2018 a series of court hearings were held against them, in 2020 this company was declared the winner for the reconstruction of 238 individual apartments in Kurbin and Mirdita, with a fund of 629 million ALL.
The Hysa Brothers company has also been accused by the opposition, while in September 2019 it was involved in a scandal, which forced the former director of ARRSH, Sonila Qaton, to resign.
While the Hysa Brothers company has been placed under investigation by SPAK, other companies seem to have found "maneuvers" to clean up their past.
It was enough for Fiqiri Pal to transfer the shares of his company to his wife to continue doing business with Albanian institutions. On May 15, 2008, he appeared before the notary, Vjoleta Sulkaj, and transferred the company Sireta 2F to the citizen Fatima Pali; he sold all his shares to the latter for 100 thousand lek, while he was arrested a few days later on charges of corruption, after it was proven that he bribed high officials of the former Ministry of Labor and Equal Opportunities, a scandal at that time included former minister Spiro Ksera.
Pali was sentenced to 1 year in prison and fined 9 million lek, while the company created by him, Sireta 2F, is also a winner in reconstruction projects worth 600 million lek and about 1.4 billion lek as a union of operators.
GPG Company ranks fourth for the value benefited from the reconstruction, worth 2 billion ALL or 20 million euros. The shareholder of this company, Paqsor Buzi, during the tender procedures was under investigation for creating a fraud scheme with value added tax, VAT.
It was suspected that, in cooperation with other firms, they prepared fictitious invoices to justify unfinished works and services, causing damage to the state budget in the amount of 4 million euros.
GPG Company has won 2 contracts with ADF for the reconstruction of buildings in Krujë and Shijak, as well as 3 contracts with the municipalities of Durrës, Lezhë and Kurbin for school reconstruction.
The court dismissed the case in June 2020, a few months after he had participated in the reconstruction project competition.
Arrested in the same State Police operation was one of the shareholders of CEC Group, Vangjush Mbriçe, who was placed under investigation for a VAT fraud scheme. Even though it was under accusation by the law enforcement bodies, the company has benefited from 4 contracts from the reconstruction, worth 130 thousand euros.
Shpresa Joanidhi is another businesswoman arrested as part of the VAT fraud scheme. She was a PD candidate for deputy in the district of Gjirokastra, meanwhile she is the administrator of Shpresa Al, co-partner with her husband, Alfred Joanidhin. The entity Shpresa sh.pk operated as a catering company and also markets camera and alarm systems. In November 2019, the company's sole shareholder donates his shares to his successors, while the company changes its name. It is baptized Dion-Al and adds the field of construction to its scope of activity. And why, without any experience in the field of construction, the new company manages to get a series of contracts from the reconstruction fund, in a value of 2.67 million euros.
The clientelism of construction companies in the reconstruction program is made by government decision and "legal", as long as no budget recognizes it as an item for investment, but only as an expense, after the tendering has been done.
The reconstruction has so far cost the state budget 900 million euros and the forecasts in the next 3-4 years, according to the former Minister of Finance, Ervin Mete, will exceed the figure of 1 billion euros.
The government has advanced this process and has not corrected it, despite strong criticism from the IMF for non-transparent procurement procedures.
On the other hand, the government could not get any of the loans offered by donors in 2020 at the Brussels Conference, thus avoiding any controlling body for the tenders.
In order to cope with the consequences of the natural disaster, on December 16, 2019, the government adopted a normative act, through which it was decided that the public procurement process would be developed with a limited procedure. This procedure was carried out in two stages. In the beginning, companies were called to declare their interest and in the second phase the government selected some companies that had expressed interest and asked them to submit offers; among them he also determined the winner.
Experts suggest that these limited procedures avoided open competition and violated the principles of free competition, leaving room for clientelistic tenders that ended up in the hands of a group of companies.
For Aranita Brahajn, director of AIS (Albanian Institute of Science), the normative act has opened the way to the lack of transparency and negotiated contracts, considering it "corruption by special law".
"The notification starts in the system, but the operators are invited to negotiate at the table for the value of the offer. Then even the winning operator did not receive the contract, if the tendered fund was not allocated with a VKM. So, a tender without a budget and a budget that is made according to the decision-making in the Council of Ministers. Corruption by special law", said Brahaj.
Law for friends
The normative act with the force of law, adopted in haste and without the attention of citizens, provides that in order to cope with the consequences of a natural disaster, citizens can be expropriated without consent. On the other hand, the promise that the reconstruction would be completed at the end of 2022 has not been kept. In fact, in the middle of 2024, the demolition process in the Kombinat area, in Shkoza, has not yet been completed, and the demolition of all buildings in the 5 May area has not yet been completed.
The reconstruction had a budget of 80 billion ALL from 2020-2023, while tenders without VAT are 96.65 billion ALL for 859 tenders.
Under these conditions, the budget law for each year, as long as it does not have reconstruction as a separate item, will continue to function, it will be without a database, while the final bill is still unclear.
Economy expert Selami Xhepa sees this discrepancy in figures as a lack of transparency.
"The procedures were not correct and were carried out with a bidder. In the cases of the reconstruction program, this has been even more evident, as they have operated under emergency conditions. The fact that we do not have the participation of international firms in the tendering process means that transparency has been completely absent", said Xhepa.
"In any case, tendering is done, then a budget is allocated from the total fund for reconstruction. So, the state does not have a budget with planning according to works and interventions. This has made the program clientelistic", says Aranita Brahaj.
"Four years after the earthquake, there is no clear planning and list of interventions", Brahaj explains further.
At the Donors' Conference, Albania secured 1.15 billion euros (at the then exchange rate), but the Albanian government could not benefit from them and committed the state budget.
The EU itself committed to the reconstruction of 63 educational facilities, spread over 2 implementation phases, with a fund of 75 million euros.
"The weak capacities of the public administration, and this is the gangrene of our administration, but in the reconstruction, an additional element is the fact that soft loans have increased, bureaucratic procedures and push the administration towards loans that are in the market and that have more liquidity fast", said professor of economics, Selami Xhepa.
"I think that donor money is not given, but competitiveness was not guaranteed. Here I think that the Albanian government, the Ministry of Reconstruction, the municipalities, intended to use the project not with the seriousness and accountability that the donors require", concludes Aranita Brahaj
*Most of the reconstruction funds were acquired by these companies as a union of operators, making it difficult to calculate the specific value benefited by them./ INA MEDIA