19 million euro affair in Durrës ECO park

2024-02-07 21:18:00, Aktualitet Julian Hoxha

The statement of former Deputy Prime Minister Arben Ahmetaj, made on the show Çim Peka Live on Syri Telelvizion, once again brought to attention one of the biggest financial scandals related to waste during the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Ahmetaj raised big questions about the waste of 19 million euros for the construction of the Eco Park in Durrës, which consists in the closure of the former urban waste disposal site of the Durrës municipality in Porto Romano and the creation of a park with sports grounds and green spaces.

The Plug show will shed light on the questions raised by Arben Ahmetaj in the Çim Peka Live show, breaking down the scheme of the companies that received 19 million euros to cover with soil the urban waste in Porto Romano and to build several sports fields, planted some trees or to weave the former waste landfill with wire mesh.

In May 2019, in the "Open" show of journalist Eni Vasili, at that time on Top Channel, Prime Minister Edi Rama declared that the waste field in Porto Romano would be rehabilitated in cooperation with private companies.

But while making this statement, it seems that the head of the government did not only express the indication of how it would be carried out, but also had the data of who would implement the Eco Park. Even at "Eko Park", as in the case of incinerators, the company that volunteered to design the project and implement it afterwards, is that of the incinerators.

The Plug show has seen a cooperation contract between Integrated Energy BV SPV and the architectural studio, Casanova Hernandes Architects.

This contract is dated April 1, 2019, and has as its object the creation of the Eco Park project and its implementation on the ground.

From the beginning of the contract, it is clear that the company Integrated Energy BV SPV, which at that time had administrator Giusepe Caffaglionen (and owner in the Netherlands) required the development of the Eco Park project in Durrës by the company Casanova Hernandes Architects.

The company IEBV SPV shpk authorizes through this contract Casanova Hernandez Architects to develop the complete project of an Eco-Park in Durrës on an actual landfill, from the conceptual phase to the implementation phase. The IEBV SPV shpk team will be responsible for the project development of all technical aspects related to the existing landfill, while Casanova Hernandez Architects will be responsible for the design of all aspects related to the landscape project on top of it.

Both teams will work in close cooperation to speed up the process and guarantee its smooth implementation.

Here it is clear that the Tirana incinerator company had guarantees that it would implement the project on the ground, even dividing the tasks it would perform together with the company that would design the project. At this point, it remains to be clarified that:

- How did Integrated Energy BV SPV know that Edi Rama would contract a Private company for such a Procedure?

- Has Edi Rama himself communicated with the owners of the Tirana Incinerator about this procedure?

- Was it Prime Minister Edi Rama who requested the project from the Casanova-Hernandez company?

- Who gave the company the technical data for a public property, to design the project?

- How could such a cooperation contract be signed, for a public work, while there was still no fund, tender or official announcement for such a project.

But, two months after signing this contract, as we mentioned at the beginning of the show, it was Prime Minister Edi Rama who announced that the Eco Park in Durrës would be built by the private sector. That statement of May 30, 2019, made by the prime minister on the national television screen Top Channel, the media already accused by the former deputy prime minister Aben Ahmetaj of being paid by the incinerators' money, officially paved the way for the 19 million euro affair in Durrës.

In fact, Top Channel itself, 1 day after the public announcement that the head of the government Edi Rama made to the project, made a television chronicle on the former landfill of Porto Romano, where it showed, among other things, how it would be transformed into an Eco Park, reflecting precisely the project of Casanova Hernandes Architects studio, which was paid about 220 thousand euros by Klodian Zoto's company for this project.

On July 10, 2018, at the next meeting of the municipal council of that time, decision No. 533, for "Declaration of environmental emergency in the field of integrated management of urban waste in the territory of the municipality of Durrës".

This decision opened the way for the mayor of Durrës at that time, Vangjush Dako, to start negotiations with the Tirana incinerator concession for sending waste to the Sharra landfill.

Decision of the Municipal Council

Finding an alternative for waste disposal. Technical support should be requested and the mayor should be given the right to cooperate with local government institutions and the Tirana landfill concessionaire to find an efficient solution for waste disposal and solving the emergency.

At the same time, this decision would also serve as an opportunity for the waste of over 19 million dollars for the closure of the existing waste disposal site of the Durrës municipality located in Porto Romano.

One year after this decision of the Durrës City Council, in the Public Procurement Agency, on October 21, 2019, a tender with a limited fund of 1,684,288,721 lek was announced, which had as the object of the contract "Closing of the existing landfill of solid waste Eko Durrës Park".

The procedure remained open for about a month. But surprisingly, on December 3, 2019, just three days before the bids were opened for the tender of 19 million euros of Eco Park, the tender procedure was cancelled.

At that moment, few could pay attention to this procedure, because Albania was still gripped by the recent tragedy of the November 26 earthquake.

In fact, this earthquake served to give the government a new ace to use and waste the 19 million euros of the Eco Park. On December 16, 2019, Edi Rama, in the capacity of Chairman of the Interministerial Civil Emergency Committee created for the earthquake, signed a new decision for the Eco Park.

It is about decision No. 6 of December 16, 2019, with the object: For the management of waste created by the earthquake of November 26. According to this decision, which had only two points, the waste created by the earthquake in all the affected areas would be sent to Porto Romano in Durrës.

The inert waste created by the earthquake of November 26, 2019, in the districts of Durrës, Lezhë and Tirana to be transported and deposited in the Porto-Romano landfill, Durrës Municipality.

The National Agency of Water-Sewage and Waste Infrastructure is charged to take the necessary measures for the encapsulation of the Porto-Romano area and the revitalization of this area with an accelerated procedure, under the conditions of the created emergency. This decision takes effect immediately.

Thus, the government paved the way for the Eco Park project, without holding a tender.

Even the mandatory collection of the remains of the earthquake ruins to be sent to Porto Romano facilitated the implementation of the Eco Park project. But let's first dwell on what happened after the decision of the Interministerial Committee on Civil Emergencies.

On December 21, 2019, that is, only 5 days after the decision signed by Prime Minister Edi Rama for sending inert waste to Porto Romano, between the company Viktoria Invest International sh.pk and the company De Mare SRL, a cooperation agreement (Join Venture ), to participate in the tendering procedure of AKUM.

Five days later, on December 27, 2019, the National Agency of Water, Sewerage and Waste Infrastructure publishes in the Public Procurement bulletin, the notice of the conclusion of the contract with the object: Closure of the existing solid waste site Eco-Park Durrës.

The contract is between AKUM as contracting authority and the union of two economic operators, De Mare srl and Viktori Invest International.

The bid price for this project was ALL 1,626,949,848 without VAT or ALL 1,950,115,822 without VAT. In other words, the Eco Park would cost around 19 million euros including VAT...

Without going any further, let's first clarify which were the two companies that, at the height of the greatest natural tragedy that had ever hit Albania, received 19 million euros without undergoing procurement procedures. The "De Mare Albania" company was established on October 18, 2019, or three days before AKUM announced for the first time the public procurement procedure for the Eco-Park. This company seems to have been created specifically and deliberately to participate in this competition, since, as it turns out so far, the company "De Mare Albania" has not entered or at least has not won any other public tender in the field of waste and not only in Albania. The company De Mare Albania has as its parent company, the company De Mare SRL, a company under Italian law, founded on January 2, 2009, with headquarters in Potenza, Italy. On February 28, 2018, the company De Mare SRL, with administrator Fausto De Mare, is registered and opens a branch in Albania.

On the other hand, the company Victoria Invest International, is an Albanian company in the field of construction, which has received dozens of public tenders from local and central government or public entities. In the past, this company has been exposed in the media, for its connections with the former leader of the Democratic Party Lulzim Basha, where in one case, Taulant Balla accused Lulzim Basha of using a vehicle that was registered in the name of this company.

Even the head of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, in a press conference on November 17, 2023, brought charges against Lulzim Basha, when he said that the former head of the party stopped any denunciation of the 19 million euro affair of Eko Park.

Let's go back to January 27, 2020, the date when the merger between the companies De Mare Albania and Viktoria Invest International signed the 19 million euro contract for the construction of the Eco-Park in Durrës.

Viktoria Invest and De Mare Albania, it seems, would not build the Eco Park in Durrës themselves. Therefore, four months after signing the 19 million euro contract with AKUM, these two companies enter into an agreement with a subcontractor to carry out field work.

On May 14, 2020, De Mare and Viktoria Invest contract the ARTCON company, owned by Denist Ymer, to carry out field work for the construction of the Eco Park.

According to the agreement, Denist Ymer's ARTCON company would implement the Eco Park project for a value of about 649 million lek without VAT, or in other words for about 6 million euros, or almost 13 million euros less than the contract signed by De Mare and Viktoria Invest with AKUM for the implementation of this project. The object of the contract for the subcontractor was this:

The customer entrusts the contractor with the implementation of the civil works provided for in Annex 1 called preventive works that will be carried out in the function of the project "Closing of the existing EKO-PARK solid waste landfill, Durrës". The entrepreneur undertakes to carry out the above works with full quality and integrity in respect of the executive program, taking into account every type of need that will be required for the realization of this project.

Attached to the contract between the two companies De Mare Albania and Viktoria Invest with the subcontractor ARTCON, was Annex 1 of the contract, which provided for all the works items together with the final estimate in Lek.

The subcontracting of the Eco Park works by the two companies that won the initial contract raised the first suspicions of a new affair with waste in Durrës. Doubts arose due to the fact that the ARTCON company is owned by Denist Ymer. This citizen also turns out to be employed by the company Integrated Energy Bv SPV, of the Sharra incinerator, this fact has already been publicly accepted, but at the same time, the PLUG show has Denis Ymer's employment contract with the Sharra incinerator company. Denist Ymeri, it turns out, started working for the incinerator company as a driver with a salary of 100,396 lek for this company on March 15, 2020, or two months before his company became a subcontractor of the joint venture between De Mare srl and Viktoria invest.

From the data of the National Business Center, it appears that the ARTCON company was first registered on February 5, 2014 in Tirana. The initial emir of the company was "ARTEMIS FARM", while the founder of this company was the citizen Ilza Zoto, the wife of Klodian Zoto, already known as one of the bosses of the incinerators. On November 23, 2016, the time when Klodian Zoto had started to receive large contracts for incinerators, his wife, Ilza Zoto, sold 100 percent of the shares of the company "ARTEMIS FARM" to citizen Denist Ymeri, who paid for the purchase. of this company worth 100 thousand ALL.

On May 4, 2020, just a few days before being subcontracted for the ECO-PARK works in Durrës, Denist Ymeri changes the name of "ARTEMIS FARM", making it "ARTCON". On the same date, the company also changed the object of its activity, from a company that dealt with slaughterhouses, adapted its activity to the field of civil constructions, including hydraulic constructions, waterworks, sewers, various plants, reconstruction of roads, bridges, objects of special importance etc.

The show "Plug" disposes of the contracts and invoices for the work performed by the company "Artcon" of Denis Ymer for the closure of the Eco-Park. But let's stop again at the "Artcon" firm and its connection with Klodian Zoto. So far, it has been established that Denist Ymeri bought the company of Klodian Zoto's wife, "Artemis Farm", for only 100 thousand lek, a company which has been mentioned several times in the files of the incinerators.

This company, i.e. "Artcon", implemented a project, which was requested by the other company Integrated Energy Bv SPV registered in the name of Klodian Zoto, and which had at that time received the concession of the incinerator of Sharra. The project was designed by subcontractor Casanova Hernandes Architects, which was paid 225,000 euros for the Eco-Park.

But, surprisingly, although the contract provided for the copyright of the project, so it could not be implemented by any company other than the one that had contracted and designed this project, as stipulated in the contract between Integrated Energy BV SPV and Casanova Hernandes Architects, the project in it was acquired by the merger of De Mare Albania and Viktoria Invest.

These two companies, after receiving 19 million euros without competition, subcontracted the company registered in the name of Klodian Zoto's driver, to implement the works in the field. For this work, "Artcon" was paid about 6 million euros, while another 13 million euros were distributed between De Mare Albania and Viktoria Invest, which had equal shares in the Join Venture contract.

Not only the disappearance of 13 million euros, but also the real volume of the works seems to have been inflated. For this, the show PLUG is bringing two details, which show the estimated prices for the works contracted between De Mare Albania, Viktoria Invest and Artcon, as well as the relative cost of how much the works performed in Eko Park cost.

Specifically, the Mountaineering Wall, according to the contract with the subcontractor, is estimated at a value of about 220 million lek, or about 2 million dollars.

But, according to a contract concluded between the company "Artcon" and a foreign company for the purchase of the Alpinism wall, the value is set at 735 thousand dollars, or almost three times less than the estimate in the contract that Artcon concluded with De Mare Albania and Victoria Invest for Eco Park.

Also, the sports fields of Eko Park, in the initial estimate between the companies that won the tender and the subcontractor Artcon, are calculated at a cost of around 1 million euros. But from the contract that Artcon made with the company that built the sports fields, the total cost of the works turns out to be $268,644 including VAT, that is, about four times less than the value presented in the estimate.

So, the scheme is like this, the money has circulated in a vicious circle, where until now, only the expenditure of 6 million euros is known, while more than two thirds of this amount, it is not known where it ended up.

This suspicious corrupt scheme has been denounced several times by the opposition leader Sali Berisha. In the conference of November 17, 2023, the leader of the opposition raised direct accusations that the Prime Minister Edi Rama's family members are behind the Eco-Park, these accusations were reinforced by Arben Ahmetajat's statements on the Çim Peka Live show.

But what is the connection of this affair with the close people of Prime Minister Edi Rama? The node is the company Casanova Hernandes Architects, which made the Eco-Park project. This company was registered for the first time in the Netherlands on October 1, 2001. In Albania, Casanova Hernandes will start its activity in 2018, the year that coincides with the start of the incinerator affair.

According to open-data data, Casanova Hernandes opened its branch in Albania on September 16, 2018. Eight months later, this company signed the contract with Integrated Energy BV SPV for the Eco Park project, while in a short time , Casanova Hernandes Architects, will become part of many million euro projects of the Albanian government, receiving tenders from the Albanian Development Fund or the Territorial Development Agency.

On the official website of Casanova Hernandes Architest, you can easily find some of the projects in which this company has participated in the field of architecture, where they are included.

1- Marubi Museum (Shkoder)

2- Albanian Carpet (Shkodar)

3-System of Museums (Gjirokaster)

4-House and Museum of Ismail Kadare (Gjirokaster)

5-Gjirokaster Ethnographic Museum

6-Requalification of the west coast of Shkoder (Shirokë)

7-Cultural center of the coast in Durrës

8-Masterplan of area 3 Durrës

9-Masterplan of area 2 Durrës

In these projects, the Casanova Hernandes Architects company has been a participant along with several Albanian companies, including SON Engineering & Construction, which turns out to be owned by Erind Bejler. The latter has often appeared in public photos with people or officials close to Prime Minister Edi Rama, including Endri Fuga, the communications director of Prime Minister Edi Rama and Ditjon Baboçin, the general director of territorial planning and development in the municipality of Tirana led by Erion Veliaj. Erind Bejler's company is a close associate of Casanova Hernandes….

The big question that arises in this case is where did 19 million euros with VAT for Eco Park go, at a time when all the works cost no more than 6 million euros. From the data of the treasury, it results that the company De Mare Albania has received until today the amount of 1,504,500,781 lek, or about 15 million euros without VAT for this project.

This money is the only one that this company has received directly from the state budget for a public project, which cost only 6 million euros, as it was implemented by the company subordinate to Klodian Zoto.

The question that arises, not only after the accusations of the opposition, but now also from the former right wing of the Prime Minister, is: Where did the money go? There are a full 13 million euros more than the cost of the works for the eco park, which SPAK will now have to find.

Meanwhile, it seems that this project has not yet been officially taken over by the municipality of Durrës. The show PLUG launched a request for information to the municipality of Durrës, but until the broadcast of this show, this municipality has not returned any response./ Syri.net