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Rama forgave 140 ha of state land to businessman who is secretly campaigning for the SP in the diaspora

Rama forgave 140 ha of state land to businessman who is secretly campaigning for

By Klodian Tomorri

In July of last year, the Strategic Investment Committee approved strategic investment status for a project that envisages the construction of a vineyard, winery and agritourism in the villages of Baqel and Kodhel in Lezha.

According to the decision, the project will be developed on an area of ​​137.2 hectares, all state land. With the approval of the status, the Investment Committee, headed by Edi Rama, granted this area of ​​state land to the company behind the project. But what is it?

X One is a company founded in May 2021 with a capital of only 10 thousand euros. The company is owned by three shareholders. They are Ylli Ujka, Česk Ivanaj and Ilir Trebicka. The first two shareholders each own 37 percent of the shares, while Ilir Trebicka has 26 percent of the company's shares.

Ylli Ujka is a businessman from Lezha, who emigrated to Italy with the great exodus of the 90s. Since then, he has lived in Italy with his family. But recently, the businessman's name has started to be mentioned frequently in the circle close to Edi Rama.

Rama forgave 140 ha of state land to businessman who is secretly campaigning for

In addition to the 137.2 hectares of state land it received for free in Lezha, the X One company has also received permission from Edi Rama's government to build three high-rise towers at the entrance to the artificial lake, where the Tirana Bank building is located today. But apparently these benefits flow both ways.

A BIRN investigation has established that Ylli Ujka is the businessman who is financing the Socialist Party's secret campaign in the diaspora.

“Two marketing agencies and businessman Ylli Ujka, a supporter of the Socialist Party – who received a building permit for three towers in the heart of Tirana – are the connecting threads behind an online advertising campaign and the Socialist Party's 'Diaspora Tour',” BIRN reports.

 Meanwhile, according to now public facts, Mr. Ujka was the man who organized Edi Rama's rallies with Albanian immigrants in Busto Arsizio and New York.

Strategic investment with 7 euros above the threshold

The investment project "Construction of vineyard, winery & agrotourism" aims to build an agrotourism resort, which envisages the establishment of a vineyard with two types of grape varieties, the construction of a guesthouse and a wine cellar in the Municipality of Lezha.

The Strategic Investment Law stipulates that tourism projects that benefit from strategic investment status must meet two conditions: first, they must have an investment value greater than 5 million euros and second, they must create at least 80 jobs.

Ironically, in the business plan it presented to the Strategic Investment Committee, the company X One will invest 5 million and 7 euros and will employ exactly 80 people.

Planning the investment figure just 7 euros above the legally required threshold to obtain strategic investor status, as well as planning the number of employees exactly at the limit, in addition to making the investment ridiculous, raises major questions about the legal compliance of this project.

But as has often happened, in Edi Rama's decisions on strategic investors, the figures are simply variables that are changed and set at will. With the sole purpose of alienating state lands for free. But in this case, this seems to be a win-win transaction for both parties.

Edi Rama gives away public land, while the beneficiaries finance the mechanisms that keep him in power./ Kapitali.al

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