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The Municipality of Elbasan grants permission for a new food market to Suel Çela's father

2025-02-18 08:42:00, Aktualitet CNA

The Municipality of Elbasan grants permission for a new food market to Suel

In front of the heavy metal gate of the Agro-Food Market in Elbasan, about 3 kilometers from the city center, the place of the merchants has been taken by a group of vigilant boys in their 30s.

This reporter had not yet gotten out of the taxi when one of them motioned for me to approach with a wave of his hand and demanded to know why I was there.

“Go away, you have no one to talk to,” he said when he learned he was dealing with a journalist. “The market is closed.”

Surrounded by concrete walls and high railings, the building resembles a high-security fortress more than a fruit and vegetable market. Beyond the iron gate, people can be seen entering and exiting the warehouses.

Someone whistles from inside and the man changes his stance. Two more guys in black sweatshirts emerge from the gate and, after introducing themselves as guards, repeat the interrogation. "Talk to the owner," they say, losing interest and leaving.

The Agro-Food Market is the only one of its kind in Elbasan and is owned by the company "Çela P" with owner Petrit Çela - Suel Çela's father - declared wanted by SPAK as the head of a criminal organization accused of being involved in international drug trafficking, assassinations, money laundering and corruption of local officials.

In addition to its official function, the market also served, according to SPAK, as the base of the suspected criminal organization between 2020-2022; a place untouchable by the police, where secret meetings were held and occult orders were given.

However, the notorious reputation and an open investigation by SPAK did not prevent the Municipality of Elbasan from approving on January 24 the expansion of the territory through a second permit for an agri-food market in favor of Çela's father's company.

The City Council’s decision justified the permit with the development of the agricultural sector and the stimulation of “innovation and cooperation among farmers.” When asked by BIRN, Elbasan Mayor Gledian Llatja called the approval of the permit “a standard procedure” and insisted that there were no requirements in the law that would prevent a company linked to a suspected criminal organization from obtaining the permit.

"A request was made by a private entity, on private property, for the construction of a public market and it was approved by the Municipal Council, as it requires a permit from the Council," said Llatja.

The Head of the Special Prosecution Office, Altin Dumani, said that he did not comment on the actions of other institutions or on matters under investigation.

Meanwhile, Petrit Çela told BIRN that his assets were legitimate and had no connection to his son, whom he said he had been “separated from for fifteen years and without seeing for three years.” Çela also claimed that his company generated millions of lek as a product of his work as a trader since the early 1990s, while denying the charges that the Special Prosecution Office has brought against his son.

"There is neither a house nor a land," he claimed.

The accusations against Suel Çela

Elbasan in Central Albania is the country’s fourth largest municipality, but over the past decade it has gained a reputation as a crime-ridden city. In October 2020, the Prosecutor General, Olsian Çela, declared from Elbasan that it was unacceptable that the city was turning into “a war scene between organized crime gangs.”

Part of this war is attributed to the suspected criminal organization led by Suel Çela, a 37-year-old man who has been declared wanted twice in the last two years by the Special Prosecution Office for organized crime offenses.

Opposition leaders have accused Suel Çela of having previously been involved in electoral campaigns and helping the Socialists secure votes in the elections. After the SPAK operation in November 2024, the Democratic Party accused Prime Minister Rama of having appointed the sister of two members of his group to a high public position.

Çela's criminal activity began almost two decades ago in Italy. He was first convicted at the age of 17 by the Turin Court in 2005, after being caught with 510 grams of cocaine. Çela was again wanted in 2007 by the Livorno Court for violating the legislation on narcotics and was sentenced in 2013 to 4 years and 7 months in prison and a 26 thousand euro fine.

In Albania, Suel Çela has been on the police file since 2013, but has not been convicted by justice.

There are currently at least two arrest warrants for Çela; the first issued in May 2022 following investigations and the testimony of the repentant Nuredin Dumani, and the second in November 2024, based on communications on SKY ECC between him and 20 other suspected members of the organization, also under indictment.

According to SPAK, Çela entered into a war with the rival organization led by life-sentenced Ardian Çapja, who is accused of organizing several assassinations with the aim of taking control of the city of Elbasan.

SPAK also claims that Suel Çela's entire activity was financed by international cocaine trafficking from Latin American countries to countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands. His organization is also accused of alleged corruption of officials in the Police, the judiciary and the media.

The investigative documents also show that while he had expanded his activity in Europe and Latin America, Suel Çela had his strong point at home. The fortified Agro-Food Market is described as an important and secure base for his organization, whose members often referred to it as “work.”

In a bar inside the Agro-Food Market in early February, Suel Çela's father denies the accusations against his son. He claims that the repentant Nuredin Dumani has deceived him, while accusing SPAK of being a persecutor.

He describes his son as a boy raised away from his family, under the care of his uncle in Italy, "who has never been convicted and owns no property."

"My son doesn't even have a car," said Çela, while denying the accusations against him.

Rama's visit

Petrit Çela's company "Çela P" was founded in 1996 with the activity of retail and wholesale trade of food, industrial and agricultural goods. He expanded the activity in 2012-2013 with the construction of the only Agro-Food market in the area, the permit for which was voted according to Çela with 99.99% of the votes of the Municipal Council of the time.

But permission to operate the market under monopoly conditions is not the only public benefit.

The company "Çela P" also benefited from funds from the Agency for Agricultural and Rural Development, AZHBR, in 2014, while in 2024 it received the right to use 7 hectares of forest land between Elbasan and Peqin for the installation of solar panels and wind panels for energy production.

Çela told BIRN that AZHBR funds to subsidize loan interest were promised to him directly by Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Rama visited the Çela Agro-Food Market in July 2014, accompanied by the then Minister of Agriculture, Edmond Panariti, and the director of AZHBR, Suela Popa, and praised it as an example that should be spread "from north to south."

"He asked me, 'How much is this last one (loan)?' I told him I have about 236 million old ones," Çela recalls. "'Okay,' he said, 70% of the interest will be paid by the state," he quoted the prime minister as saying. But Çela also claimed that AZHBR did not keep its word.

According to treasury transactions on the Ministry of Finance website, the company “Çela P” received 1 million lek in support from AZHBR, with the description “Interest rate subsidy” during the years 2014-2015. Asked by BIRN about the allegations of the Prime Minister’s intervention and the procedures followed in granting the subsidy, the Prime Minister’s Office did not respond by the time of publication of this article.

Although the company "Çela P" controls the only agri-food market in the municipality of Elbasan, Çela says that for a year now he has seen the need to expand his activity and has rented additional land near the current market, which according to him no longer has the capacity for retail space.

To secure the permit for this new market, Çela submitted a request to the Municipality of Elbasan on January 16, 2025, and the permit was approved in record time on January 29 by the Municipal Council. BIRN learned that members of the Municipal Council from the opposition Democratic Party did not vote for the permit, but some of the councilors dodged questions about the case and refused to comment.

The Municipality of Elbasan defended the permit in a written response, saying it had approved it after carrying out bureaucratic verifications at the National Business Center as well as paying fiscal obligations.

"The other arguments put forward by you fall outside the functions of the municipality," the Municipality said, referring to the company's ties to the suspected criminal organization led by Suel Çela.

Closed investigations

Suel Çela and his family circle have been subject to two wealth investigations in the past, but in both cases, the cases were dismissed by the courts.

The first criminal proceeding was registered in 2018 by the Elbasan Prosecution Office, following a referral initiated by the Local Police Directorate for the criminal offenses of falsification of documents, abuse of office, and laundering of the proceeds of crime, while the second proceeding was registered on the basis of a government normative act, which preceded Operation Force of Law in 2020.

In the 2018 proceedings, the Elbasan Police Directorate raised doubts about the method of obtaining land in the agri-food market and the investments made for its construction, which amounted to an average cost estimated at 162 million lek.

But the Elbasan Prosecutor's Office concluded that the fact did not exist and the proceedings were dismissed in February 2022 through a decision by Judge Pajtime Fetahu. The decision was based primarily on an expert's analysis of the income and expenses of the company "Çela P", which were assessed as legal.

Judge Fetahu was arrested by SPAK in November 2024 during the operation against Çela's organization, accused of being corrupted by her. The court's decision on the security measure shows that the former judge had a long and very friendly relationship with Suel Çela, with whom she occasionally exchanged messages through the Sky ECC application, and that she had helped him in exchange for money, to facilitate his arrested collaborators and punish enemies in the attempt to control the city of Elbasan.

The second property investigation began in March 2020, after the Police seized two Land Rover vehicles owned by Suel Çela's father and brother during Operation Force of Law. Both vehicles were returned to their owners in March 2021, after SPAK prosecutor Ened Nakuçi and judge Irena Gjoka assessed that they had been purchased with legal sources.

Petrit Çela, for his part, insists that he has documented his assets and that he has kept all receipts and has papers for every financial relationship, including significant amounts of credit taken out.

"Repeated investigations into my wealth have proven that it is legal and created through work in commerce," Çela claimed./ Reporter.al





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