What is the sterilization contract worth 100 million euros?

2023-08-17 11:37:00, Aktualitet CNA

What is the sterilization contract worth 100 million euros?

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By order of SPAK, eight arrest warrants have been issued in connection with the sterilization concession, a tender worth 100 million euros. Two people have been arrested by the police regarding this concession. As previously warned by CNA, the former Deputy Minister of Health, Klodian Rjepaj and the businessman Ilir Rrapaj have been arrested.

But what is the sterilization contract worth 100 million euros?

It is about a PPP project with budgetary support in health.

The contract for the sterilization concession was signed in 2015 between the former Minister of Health, Ilir Beqja and the concessionaire company SaniService whose shareholders are Investital LLC and the Italian companies "Servizi Italia", "Tecnosanimed" and "U.Jet Srl".

The company, Investital LLC in this contract owned the majority of the shares. This company was founded with a capital of 1 thousand euros in Kosovo by Ilir Rrapaj.

Earlier, BIRN published an article that talked about the founder of this company and said that Rrapaj returned to Albania after the 2013 elections. According to this media, before winning the concession, Rrapaj established frequent contacts with the Minister of Health at that time , Ilir Beqaj.

BIRN interviewed doctors and surgeons from various hospitals in Tirana, who claimed that the chosen formula often increases the costs even fictitiously. The doctors admitted that they used expensive sets for microsurgery and were often forced to open two or three sets during an operation to find the surgical instrument they needed. The former Minister of Health, Ilir Beqja, defended the contract in a written response to BIRN, despite the increased costs and the charges registered by the Prosecutor's Office, writes BIRN.

The sterilization center was built in 2009 through a loan that the Albanian government received from the Bank of the Council of Europe - CEB. Its transfer under the administration of the concessionaire became part of the investigation carried out by the Prosecutor's Office of Tirana - which was dismissed in September 2016 without consequences, writes BIRN.

The concession company "SaniService" has sold surgical sets to the Ministry of Health for prices ranging from 16,000 ALL to 45,000 ALL (with VAT)./ CNA