Flash News

When “irony” becomes an alibi: Rama, the starchitects and “The Albanian Files”

Shooting in Germany, 5 killed and several injured

Fire in Llakatund, Vlora, wind favors rapid spread of flames

Shooting in Pogradec, young man with criminal record injured

The two football giants on the field, Brazil and Germany, are looking for a ticket to the 1/8th.

E-TJERA

Behind the scenes/ Why is SPAK delaying the request for Balluk's arrest?

Politiko 2026-06-29 16:40:54

The hesitation of the new head of SPAK, Klodian Braho, to send to the Albanian Parliament the request to lift the immunity of MP Belinda Balluku, after the aggravation of the charges against her, has raised a number of doubts. The same one, who in December last year, defended, together with the prosecutor of the case, Dritan Prençi, the need to arrest Balluku due to the aggravation of the criminal offense (in addition to the Llogara tunnel, charges were also filed for 11 tenders of the Tirana Ring Road), so the current head of SPAK himself, now that the former number two in the government has been added to the charges of corruption and money laundering, has no intention of acting.

The head of the DP parliamentary group, Gazmend Bardhi, declared today in front of journalists that there are indications that SPAK is dragging out the request for Balluku's immunity because there may be interference from Prime Minister Rama. "Has Edi Rama intervened with the new head of the Special Prosecution Office to postpone, at least until September, the implementation of the law and the same standard in the Balluku case?", was one of the questions to which Bardhi said that the head of SPAK has the obligation to answer to the Albanians.

Doubts about the way SPAK is handling the Balluku 2 file have increased along with rumors that the new head of SPAK, Klodian Braho, is often on the same wavelength of interests as Prime Minister Rama. The weakening of the authority of the special prosecution after attacks by the majority, the lack of protection for special prosecutors who are attacked by the government media and, above all, the gradual extinction of several scandals directly related to the prime minister, have marked what can now be called the era of the final unraveling of “our children’s heroes”. Klodian Braho, the prosecutor who acquitted Erion Velina in the scandalous 5D affair, must definitely give an explanation as to why the institution he heads is not addressing the Parliament with a new request for Balluku’s immunity, while the charges against her have become more serious.

The lack of a public explanation reinforces the version that Braho prefers not to burden Edi Rama's positions, while tens of thousands of people are protesting against his regime. By doing politics and not justice, this delay by SPAK gives oxygen to the Tirana autocrat in the hope that the wave of protests will subside and the Balluku issue will be left to the next parliamentary session. A debate on Balluku's immunity in these days of tension and anxiety for Edi Rama would increase the public and international pressure on the socialist majority. But if this is the prime minister's concern, why should it also be SPAK's concern?

The act against the former deputy prime minister is not simply about the issue of one or a few villas obtained through corruption. It paves the way for shedding light on a system rotten by corruption and crime, against which people are today in the streets. The Balluku affair encompasses the entire mafia model of state capture and control over citizens through rigged tenders, the use of organized crime, the corruption of businessmen and media executives, as well as the electoral crime that culminated in the Fier region a year ago.

In the SPAK investigations, it is not just a villa in Dhërmi, but millions of euros that go to family members and close circle members. There are luxury and erotic trips to Dubai and elsewhere. There are wiretaps that prove how media mercenaries are paid and how crime bosses are used for votes, which are then rewarded with tenders and land. This is a typical case for which SPAK and Klodian Braho have a great moral obligation towards Albanians and the future of the country, to follow it to the end as the most flagrant example of Albania being taken hostage by a handful of bandits.

The Balluku affair should be treated not as the case of an individual who deviated from the system, but as the mafia system itself, which, in a decade, has produced so much crime and corruption at the highest levels, that a total blow to it remains the only possibility to restore hope. Therefore, the Balluku affair constitutes a dividing line for Klodian Braho and SPAK: either they ultimately drag themselves along with the fate of the autocrat, or they mark the beginning of a new republic./ Lapsi.al