Businessman financed Veliaj's 'luxury' trip to secure construction permit

The Mangalem apartment complex in Tirana's Ali Demi neighborhood is one of the largest construction projects in the capital, with nearly 1,200 apartments in total. Borrowing its name from the historic neighborhood of Berat, the complex is distinguished by its strong color contrast, which, according to Dutch architecture studio OMA, was inspired by Edi Rama's 2000s initiative to paint old communist-era buildings in Tirana.

The "Mangalem" complex was built by Fatmir Bektashi's "Kontakt" company, after receiving a construction permit in 2018 from the Municipality of Tirana.

But data obtained from the Special Prosecution's investigation into Mayor Erion Veliaj suggests that this project was predetermined at least two years before the approval of the construction permit, thanks to suspected corrupt connections between the mayor and the construction businessman.

In order to approve the project, businessman Fatmir Bektashi has declared to the Prosecutor's Office that he financed travel and hotel tickets for Mayor Erion Veliaj, his wife, Ajola Xoxa, and other officials of the Municipality of Tirana to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in December 2016.

“The declarant [Fatmir Bektashi] explained that the trip took place before the Mangalem 21 project was implemented and its construction permit was issued,” SPAK argues.

"The reason for the trip is related to a meeting with the architectural company, OMA in Rotterdam, and the company Kontakt had asked Erion Veliaj to be at the meeting in order to familiarize himself with the project and approve it," it added.

Tirana's long-serving mayor, Erion Veliaj, was arrested on February 10 by a decision of the Special Court on charges of corruption and money laundering. Veliaj is suspected of having created a well-thought-out corrupt scheme to benefit from bribes from Tirana Municipality funds, through a network of NGOs and companies controlled by his wife.

Veliaj has denied the accusations and, through several Facebook statuses from his cell, has accused the prosecutor in the case of being a "pervert" and claimed that he is in a "conflict of interest."

On Wednesday evening, the Special Court confirmed the security measure of 'prison arrest' against Veliaj, while leaving Ajola Xoxa under 'compulsory appearance', given that she is the mother of a minor child. Five other businessmen were also placed under the measure of 'compulsory appearance' on charges of active corruption, among them the owner of the company "Kontakt", Bektashi.

Fatmir Bektashi is a major builder in Tirana, previously indicted by SPAK on corruption charges in the case of the former sports club "Partizan", along with former Prime Minister Sali Berisha and his son-in-law, Jamarbër Malltezi.

During the period 2018-2022 alone, his company "Kontakt" obtained six construction permits from Mayor Veliaj.

According to the decision of the Special Court for a security measure, Bektashi paid for business class plane tickets for the Veliaj-Xoxa couple worth 2,688 euros and an Executive Suite room at the Marriott Hotel in Rotterdam worth 677 euros. However, Xoxa did not participate in this trip.

Asked by investigators about these payments, Bektashi initially replied: "I wonder how I left a trace regarding the plane ticket and hotel payments I made for Erion Veliaj and Ajola Xoxa."

In addition to these payments, Bektashi’s company “Kontakt” sponsored with 6.5 million lek [65 thousand euros] the organization Balkans Youth Link Albania – BYL-A, which according to SPAK was also controlled by Xoxa, for the organization of the International Contemporary Dance Festival. In his testimony to investigators, Bektashi said that he “does not remember them.”

Such corrupt practices, where construction businessmen pay for plane and hotel tickets to influence the decision-making of senior officials of the Municipality of Tirana, are not identified for the first time.

In June 2018, the builder of Skëndebej Square, Shkëlqim Fusha, also accused in this case, traveled with Mayor Erion Veliaj, former Deputy Mayor Arbjan Mazniku, and former Director of Urban Planning Ditjon Baboçi to Barcelona for the "European Prize for Public Urban Space" award ceremony and paid for accommodation at a 5-star hotel for Mazniku and Baboçi.

An investigation subsequently launched into acts of corruption and abuse of office by the Tirana Prosecution Office was dismissed in 2019 due to lack of evidence. Reporter.al