'The scandal of the reconstruction of building 19 in QS', Vangjeli: The building was never built, even though 43 million lek was paid

The Anti-Corruption Spokesperson of the Democratic Party, Genta Vangjeli, has denounced a corruption affair related to the reconstruction process of building no. 19 in the Student City, raising strong accusations against the Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, and the former director of RSU no. 1, Anila Shehu.

According to her, even though around 43 million lek were paid for the construction of this building, it was never built, a fact that has been proven by photos taken on the ground.

Vangjeli emphasized that this is another case of abuse of public funds and that there are suspicions of violations of the law and abuse of state duty.

Statement by the Anti-Corruption Spokesperson in the Democratic Party, Genta Vangjeli:

On March 5, 2025, activists Aurel Kujtimi and Andrea Bregu reported to SPAK the Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, and the former director of RSU No. 1, Anila Shehu, for another corrupt affair related to the reconstruction process, specifically the construction of the standard building at RSU No. 1 (No. 19) in Student City.

The students indicated that in addition to the denial of the right to information regarding this case:

– first, there are suspicions of abuse of state duty where the damage is double, both with public funds but also with the footprint and territory claimed to be used to build building no. 19,

– secondly, the building was never built, as proven by photos taken on the ground,

Thirdly, about 43 million old lek were paid for this building in favor of the contractor who would carry out the construction.

The Democratic Party conducted its verifications of the procedures carried out by the Tirana Municipality for the construction of Building 19 and the following additional facts resulted:

On December 6, 2019, Erjon Veliaj, in his capacity as the mayor of the Tirana Municipality, conducted the negotiation procedure with the object of demolishing buildings 15,18,19 in the student city and the contractor was the company ARB & Trans 2010 shpk, which until 2018 was directly owned by the Administrator of the Zall Herr Administrative Unit of the Tirana Municipality, involved in the 5 D affair, Arben Maloku, and currently owned by his father.

According to Spending Data, this entity was paid 25.2 million lek for this procedure, executed on March 4, 2020 and September 20, 2020.

In addition to the payment for unfinished work in the amount of 4.3 million lek in favor of the builder executed on September 8, 2023, Erjon Veliaj on November 12, 2021 concluded a contract with the object of supervising the works for the reconstruction of the TIP building in RSU no. 1 (no. 19) with the operator Instituti 'Dekliada' shpk owned by the director of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy Mehmet Hasalami, this entity contracted by the Municipality of Tirana, among other things, for the assessment of buildings damaged by the earthquake of 26.11.19, reconstruction of apartments or the RSU 3 building no. 4.

Although according to Spending Data, there is no payment received by this entity for building 19 in RSU 1, the fact is that pursuant to Law No. 8402 dated 10.09.1998 On the control and discipline of construction works, as amended, Article 7, as well as Council of Ministers No. 610, dated 22.09.2022 On the determination of detailed rules for the method of appointing the supervisor, his duties and responsibilities, the general conditions and elements of ensuring professional liability, as well as the rules, procedures and method of maintaining documentation during the development of the works, Article 7 and following, the works supervisor is obliged to control and is responsible for the implementation of the construction works, in accordance with the construction permit, the project, the technical conditions of the design, implementation, and the destination of the facility.

Also, the situations presented by the contractor, at different stages of the works, are checked and approved by the works supervisor. Payment can only be made based on this approval.

What situations has the supervisor approved when there is no construction in this facility...

The Democratic Party has repeatedly denounced the use of natural disasters to intentionally abuse the mismanagement and allocation of public funds, and the above case is another example.

Under these conditions, we appeal to SPAK to conclude the respective investigations into this affair reported by the students and send the lawbreakers and thieves of Albanian money to trial.