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BIRN analysis: What is the rate of corruption in Albania?

Politiko 2023-06-04 18:19:20

Tenders for works supervision are considered small tenders. They cost a few thousand euros and are used to contract a company that supervises the works undertaken by another company. As a link that serves as a watchdog and must guarantee the quality and quantity of contracted works, despite the small value, these contracts are important. And yet, these are the tenders that almost never attract the attention of the media and citizens, due to the low value.

Things seem to have changed this weekend, when the Special Structure Against Corruption and Organized Crime, SPAK, announced that it has arrested two government employees, one, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Health and the other, an employee of a structure known as " co-governance", a controversial structure that has united the Socialist Party with the Albanian state, leaving no dividing line between the two.

According to SPAK, the Co-Government employee has given an amount of 330 thousand ALL to the General Secretary, with the intention that this will favor an economic operator in a tender. The tender in question is entitled: "Lot 1 "Supervision for the reconstruction of some Health Centers in the districts of Tirana and Durrës".

The Public Procurement Agency has announced the opening of the tender on May 10 and the closing on May 22. DRICONS company has been announced as the winner for this tender. SPAK's announcement does not reveal which operator the bribe money was paid to favor, but what is noticeable is that the tender in question, as far as it appears from the participation data, the number of offers and the result, seems far from tender dog suspected of manipulation. Consequently, against the DRICONS company, there is no public data to suggest corruption, although many are surprised by the fact that SPAK has arrested two government officials for receiving money for favoring "an operator" but they have not arrested any operator. And this is another case where SPAK's logic defies accepted logic.

The announcement of the winner states that for lot 1, eight companies participated with offers ranging from 638 thousand to 754 thousand ALL, while the limit fund was 806 thousand ALL. The winning bid was worth 672,000 ALL, or 83% of the limit fund. In short, it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to pay such a large amount of money in a very normal tender of small value. The 330 thousand ALL that were found in the office of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Health, constitute 41% of the limit fund and almost 50% of the winning bid fund.

This leads us to another question: what should be the usual rate of corruption in the tenders of Albanian public institutions?

Një dosje tjetër e SPAK mund të na ndihmojë për këtë pyetje. Është fjala për çështjen e incineratorit të Elbasanit, për të cilën, ish-ministri Lefter Koka është në pritje të gjykimit për korrupsion, pastrim parash dhe abuzim me detyrën.

Incineratori i Elbasanit u dha me koncesion në vitin 2015 me një procedurë emergjente dhe pa garë. Vlera totale e kontratës ishte 21.6 milionë euro ndërsa SPAK ka identifikuar disa kompani fantazëm, të cilat u denoncuan fillimisht nga LSI, që besohet se janë përdorur nga biznesmenët e koncesionit për të paguar ryshfetin e Kokës.

Koka akuzohet se ka përfituar 3.1 milionë euro nga faturat fiktive të Albtek Energji me një numër kompanish fantazmë dhe afro 2 milionë të tjera nga ITS, kompania tjetër e koncesionit. Me pak fjalë, nga 21.6 milionë euro të kontratës së koncesionit të Elbasanit, 5.1 milionë ose 24% e totalit kanë përfunduar për ryshfet për ministrin, sipas aktakuzës. Investigimi i SPAK mbi problemin e incineratorëve është, në rastin më të mirë, jo shumë i qartë. Të tre çështjet, Elbasani, Fieri dhe Tirana, janë ndarë në tre dosje të veçanta pavarësisht se personazhet janë të njëjtë në të treja rastet. Kompanitë që supozohet se kanë faturuar punime të paqena dhe janë përdorur thjeshtë si mjet pagese të korrupsionit në Elbasan, kanë faturuar edhe koncesionin e incineratorit të Fierit dhe atë të Tiranës, kështu që nuk mund të thuhet se cilat ryshfete kanë pasur të bëjnë me incineratorin e Elbasanit dhe cilat, me atë të Fierit (sa për Tiranën, kreu i SPAK Altin Dumani këmbëngul se nuk është gjetur ende vepër penale).

And for more, of course, two tenders, one with a suspected corruption rate of 24% and the other, with a 50% corruption rate, do not constitute a sample and it is difficult to extrapolate from these two figures. It's just that the fact remains that two and a half years after its creation, SPAK hasn't built up any extensive track record of money laundering investigations so, at the moment, we don't have a choice. What is known is that the various public authorities in Albania annually carry out procurement procedures ranging from 800 million to 1 billion euros. And if these are the rates of corruption, then an amount of at least 200 million euros per year ends up in the pockets of officials. And considering how poor a country Albania is, the 200 million per year is enough to destroy any chance for a legal and democratic state./ BIRN