PD reports to SPAK Balluk for the Llogara tunnel: 30 million euros went to the company that did not do any work

The Parliamentary Group of the Democratic Party, through its Chairman Gazment Bardhi, has reported to the SPAK the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy Belinda Balluku, who in cooperation is suspected of having committed the criminal offenses of 'Violation of the equality of participants in public tenders or auctions' and 'Passive corruption of high state officials or local elected officials', provided by articles 258 and 260 of the Criminal Code.

This report is related to the inflated construction costs of the Llogara Tunnel, where it is suspected that its value was increased by 30 million euros that went to a Turkish company, which did not do any work. Specifically, in the report of the DP parliamentary group, the following 10 facts and evidence are highlighted:

1- On 14.12.2020, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy has announced the tender with the object 'Construction of the Llogara Tunnel'. In this procedure, the company 'Gjoka Konstruksion' sh.a. submitted an offer, worth about 140 million euros. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy decided to cancel the tender and 'surprisingly' the company 'Gjoka Konstruksion' sh.a. disqualified from the competition does not appeal against the decision of disqualification from the procurement procedure.

2- On 24.06.2021, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy re-announced the tender with the same object. Five economic operators participated in this competition, from which it turns out that 4 operators were disqualified and only the Union of Economic Operators (BOE) INTEKAR YAPI TURIZM ELEKTRIK and ASL INSAAT TAAHHUT qualified and was declared the winner on 08.10.2021, with an offer of about 170 million euros. The company 'Gjoka Konstruksion' sh.a. did not participate in the competition, while the winning offer is 30 million euros more than the offer submitted by the company 'Gjoka Konstruksion' sh.a. in the first procedure.

3- On 08.11.2021, the winning operators of the tender for the construction of the Llogara tunnel, founded the simple company 'INTEKAR - ASL'. The documentation for the registration of the company in the National Business Center was made by the citizen Rovena Dorëzi, who turns out to be employed as a lawyer in the company 'Gjoka Konstruksion' sh.a.

4- From the verification of payments through the Tirana Treasury Branch, it results that the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy has made 36 payments, with a total value of about 170 million euros.

5- The subcontracting works were carried out by the company 'Gjoka Konstruksion' sh.a., whose logos and employees appear in all the inspections that were carried out by the citizen Belinda Balluku, during the works for the construction of the Llogara tunnel. In addition, from the verification at the National Business Center, the company 'INTEKAR - ASL' does not have any active licenses, which are necessary for the construction of the Llogara tunnel.

6- From the analysis of the financial statements for the years 2021 - 2023, the company has declared that it has earned a total of 23.5 million euros, while in the detailing of the expenditure items it results that 97.5% - 99% are payments made for subcontracting, that is to the company Gjoka Construction' sh.a.

7- There are data, including the public testimony of one of the participants in the meeting, that the fictitious Turkish company was predetermined as the winner in a meeting in Ankara, Turkey, held on June 3, 2021, i.e. 21 days before the re-announcement of the tender.

8- From the analysis of the above facts and data, it appears that the works for the construction of the Llogara tunnel were effectively carried out by the company 'Gjoka Konstruksion' sh.a., which had participated in the first canceled procurement procedure and had offered for the construction of the tunnel the value of about 140 million euros. In fact, it turns out that the construction expenditure was carried out with this value, because the company 'Gjoka Konstruksion' sh.a. who did the subcontracting work was paid with this amount, but in this case not directly from the State Budget but through an intermediary that was the Turkish company 'INTEKAR - ASL', which benefited 30 million euros without doing any work.

9- The difference of 30 million euros is the 'success fee' of the company 'INTEKAR - ASL', without performing any work, since all the works were carried out by the Albanian company 'Gjoka Konstruksion' sh.pk

10- From this scheme, on which there are serious suspicions of corruption or abuse of office, it is proven that a damage of at least 30 million euros has been caused to the State Budget, because no expenditure for this amount is reflected.

The complete documentation, along with the relevant violations, which have brought about the abuse of at least 30 million euros to the State Budget, and which is suspected to be the value of the 'corruption fee', have been made available to the Special Prosecutor's Office. The DP Parliamentary Group has asked SPAK to immediately launch a full and comprehensive investigation on this issue and to bring criminal responsibility against the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy Belinda Balluku, as well as any other person who will be found during the investigations criminal liability for this abuse.