"Nelsa shpk" poisoned 70 children with salmonella, also supplies prisons and hospitals! Winner of several tenders

Around 70 children from a public kindergarten in the city of Gramsh were admitted to hospital earlier this week with severe symptoms of poisoning, accompanied by vomiting, fever and abdominal pain. The initial suspicions of health authorities are related to a poisoning caused by the salmonella bacteria, while laboratory tests are still in progress to confirm the source and extent of the contamination.

According to sources on the ground, authorities have taken samples of the food served at the institution, as well as the water and kitchen facilities.

"One of the main lines of investigation is the catering food supplier, the company "Nelsa shpk", which according to official documents has won the tender for the supply of kindergartens and nurseries in the Gramsh Municipality since June 2023.

The contract with this company is valid for 24 months and provides for the daily supply of educational centers for children, including the high school dormitory, with high-standard food products.

The company "Nelsa shpk" has a long history of involvement in public tenders, not only in the Gramsh municipality, but also in several other cities in the country and in state institutions in Tirana.

In addition to supplying catering food to nurseries, kindergartens and the high school dormitory in the Gramsh municipality, "Nelsa shpk" also supplies food to hospitals and prisons.

Many of these tenders have been marked with a "red flag" in the public procurement system, a warning signal for a lack of transparency, weak competition, or suspicions of irregularities in the procedures.

"Nelsa shpk" turns out to be currently owned by Elsa Kamberi (Balla), but the founder and initial owner is her father, Nexhmi Balla, a well-known name in Albanian justice.

In 2016, Balla was arrested along with several other businessmen and senior prison officials for a major corruption scandal involving the manipulation of food tenders at the General Directorate of Prisons.

In addition to Nexhmi Balla, businessmen Ylber Kalaja and Shemsi Sinani, as well as the director general of prisons at the time, Artur Zoto, and his deputy Iljaz Labi, were also arrested. Their companies had divided up large-value tenders among themselves through corrupt schemes.

After this scandal, to ensure the continuity of economic activity, Balla transferred ownership and management of the company to his daughter, Elsa, a well-known maneuver in the world of businesses linked to corruption, to avoid legal penalties and preserve public contracts./ News24