"Big scandal!", BILD: Fiery rage against corruption in the capital of Albania

The German media " BILD " has devoted an article to the protest that was held yesterday in front of the Tirana town hall where the resignation of the mayor, Erion Veliaj, was demanded.

Among other things, "BLID" writes: A major corruption scandal is shaking the metropolis of the Western Balkans. The city's leading politicians are said to have established companies through their 'pups', which they then awarded public contracts to! The damage known so far: 25 million euros of public money in the second poorest country in Europe!

Full article:

By Peter Tiede

Incendiary devices and mass anger: Thousands of citizens have been on the streets for days in the capital of Albania, Tirana.

The reason: A major corruption scandal is shaking the metropolis of the Western Balkans. The directors of the municipality have been arrested and the socialist mayor is threatened by the investigation.

It is about millions of euros. Even for Albania, whose citizens are used to corruption, this is a big scandal!

Climax: Thousands of people marched in front of the town hall on Thursday, demonstrating against the socialist mayor Erion Veliaj (44), who is considered the preferred successor of Prime Minister Edi Rama (59). Incendiary devices were thrown and the police had to surround the administrative building.

What drives people to the streets: The city's leading politicians are said to have founded companies through their 'pups', which they then awarded public contracts! The damage known so far: 25 million euros of public money in the second poorest country in Europe!

Suspicion: It is said that the mayor is also involved.

It's all part of a series of corruption cases in the country that has become the new Mediterranean dream destination for thousands of Germans.

For years there has been a scandal surrounding unfinished or grossly overpriced road construction projects. And a conflict over waste incineration plants has been simmering for months: Initially, four million EU euros came to the country for recycling centers and garbage trucks - without a single garbage truck or recycling center ever appearing. Then waste incineration plants had to be built. Almost 130 million euros have been spent so far for Tirana alone. Only that: The plant does not exist at all. Money gone!

And just a month ago, the EU blocked ALL agricultural subsidies for the EU candidate country. The reason: rampant corruption. EU fraud investigators had sounded the alarm: funds were simply being stolen!

Albania ranks dismally 98th in Transparency International's corruption index – after Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Maldives and Morocco!

A committee of senior American diplomats (Council of American Ambassadors) first formulated the suspicion "that the high growth of construction in the city is the product of criminal money laundering, especially since organized crime, especially drug trafficking networks and corruption have become signs distinctive of post-communist Albania".

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (53, SPD) named Albanian gangs as the main perpetrators of cocaine smuggling in Germany on Tuesday.

The fact that senior officials are now openly lining their pockets in front of the mayor of the booming city of Tirana - this is a point too many for the demonstrators in Tirana, where thousands of new apartments sit empty. Fact: Money laundering has driven up prices. Land for construction in the city of Tirana is now as expensive as in the main areas of Hamburg...