Xama: Veliaj implicated in many hot issues, incinerator test for SPAK

Journalist Ola Xama states that the mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, who has admitted that he is under investigation for his assets, is one of the most reported public officials in SPAK.

Speaking to "MCN Economy", Xama stated that there are dozens of reports from both political parties and citizens regarding the conflicts they have had with the Tirana Municipality, both regarding expropriations and the demolition of old buildings.

Xama emphasized that Veliaj's greatest exposure is in the Tirana incinerator affair.

She also mentioned the wealth of his family members, his wife Ajola Xoxa and brother Arbër Veliaj.

There are some hot issues when there are Veliaj's implications, such as the Tirana incinerator, we see that the SPAK investigation into Ahmetaj reveals in several passages the actions taken by Mayor Veliaj.

We have taken over the financial commitment, on the second page there are two columns about how much the funding would be, but the mayor has taken over the column about the funding that the Municipality of Tirana would provide without a decision from the Municipal Council.

They have bypassed the passage of the draft contract to the Municipal Council, here we have a violation, at the concession granting stage.

The biggest problem is the implementation of this contract. We have 80 million euros paid so far from the budget and 60 million euros paid from the fee for processing inert materials by the builders for the incinerator.

All this money has been paid and we don't have an incinerator anywhere. There is no monitoring of the project, where payments should have been made based on the work.

Every year the contracting authority has been very regular with payments. We have a malfunctioning project monitoring unit, monitoring has not been done.

Another hot issue is "5D Construction", where we have important directors of the Municipality of Tirana with full security measures.

Another scheme like "5D" is being investigated by SPAK, although smaller in the Recreation Parks Agency, which has awarded some of the tender procedures to the husband of the former head of the APR sector, or "Tirana Parking" today.

The issue where Veliaj comes out in the open and exposed is the fact that millions of euros were paid for an incinerator that does not exist.

Although the former Minister of Environment and the former Secretary General of the ministry, Alqi Bllako, are also involved, the funds were provided by the Municipality of Tirana.

The biggest problem of every municipality is waste, and seeing that today there is no incinerator but a landfill where all capacities have been exhausted, we risk an environmental disaster.

It is an institutional mockery and a mockery of the public that we pay for something that does not exist.

Even "5D" is not far behind, because if before we were talking about corrupt tenders, today we are talking about tenders that a director gives to himself, and this cannot be done without the knowledge of the head of the contracting authority.

On the other hand, Veliaj has left citizens homeless, to give permission to the oligarchs. There are several denunciations regarding the foundations run by Mr. Veliaj's wife, Ajola Xoxa.

A search was also conducted on Mr. Veliaj's brother, Arbër Veliaj. There may be suspicions about payments made to Mr. Veliaj's brother's company.

What is known is that Arbër Hoxha is a very successful businessman in the company "Google", of which he bought 10% of the shares for 100 euros in 2011 and later managed to buy 100%.

It is a test for SPAK, not the name of Mr. Veliaj, but the issue of the Tirana incinerator.

What I see is that there is a SPAK steppe on this issue, and fragmentation. 

Initially, the incinerators of Tirana, Fier, and Elbasan were separated into separate incinerators.

The Tirana incinerator itself has been fragmented into several other factions. 

But it should have been a single issue, since the beneficiaries are the same.

Erion Veliaj's political fate is finally sealed for me.

If SPAK has gone to his wife and brother, it shows that he is being investigated.