SPAK investigation: How the restaurant connected to Ilir Beqjen embezzled EU funds

2024-01-08 21:48:00, Aktualitet CNA

SPAK investigation: How the restaurant connected to Ilir Beqjen embezzled EU

Ilir Beqaj in SPAK

After the former health minister was appointed head of the Agency that monitors millions in aid from the European Union, prosecutors suspect that he and his subordinates set up a scheme of corruption and money laundering with fictitious invoices.

Gzona is a restaurant located in the pedestrian alley inside the Toptani family's saraje in the center of Tirana - revived as a commercial space for handicrafts and culinary arts.

Run by a chef who rose to fame from his appearance on 'Masterchef', the restaurant promises an evolution of tradition, with dishes such as onion-tomato pie, beef brain with charcoal-grilled cauliflower and beetroot gnocchi with Mishavina cheese. .

The restaurant is frequented by the most powerful people in the capital, Prime Minister Edi Rama and the mayor, Erion Veliaj, as well as by high officials of the European Union - including former ambassador Luigi Soreca and the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell.

However, Albanian prosecutors suspect that behind the distinguished list of customers and culinary art, the restaurant hides a corrupt scheme with fictitious invoices to misuse funds from European Union aid programs.

Ilir Beqaj, the former Minister of Health who until December headed the State Agency for Strategic Programming and Aid Coordination, SASPAC, and Ermal Kurtulaj, coordinator of the 'USAIR Facility Point' program funded by the European Union, are suspected to be at the center of this scheme. .

As part of the investigation, the National Bureau of Investigation, BKH, undertook on December 27 a series of raids on homes, businesses, vehicles, as well as personal searches for eight suspects, including former minister Ilir Beqaj and his driver, Arben Dani.

The inspection at the apartment was confirmed for the journalists by Beqaj himself, who appeared at SPAK on the same day due to the security measure "mandatory appearance" imposed on him regarding investigations into the sterilization affair of medical equipment - a parallel case where the former minister is suspected of abuse of office.

"I have been dealing with these issues for years. A check was made in my apartment, there was no need to call the lawyer because the things that a normal family has as belongings are found there," Beqaj told reporters outside the doors of SPAK.

Beqaj's lawyer, Ermal Yzeiraj, also confirmed the control to the media and added that documents, computers and mobile phones were seized and confirmed that the investigative actions were related to the former minister's role as head of SASPAC.

Beqaj has been a deputy of the Socialist Party for several legislatures and was the Minister of Health from 2013 to 2017. In 2021, he was appointed head of SASPAC by Prime Minister Edi Rama, even though he was being investigated for concession contracts in health. After the decision of the Special Court to assign him the security measure "obligation to appear" in relation to the accusations on the sterilization affair, Beqaj resigned from SASPAC and his position as a negotiator between Albania and the European Union.

Kurtulaj could not be reached for comment.

Hidden property interests

The Gzona restaurant is owned by the company "Albanian Food and Hospitality Lab", founded in January 2019 by the wife of the former Minister of Health, Adriana Beqaj and Arti Malaj.

In March 2019, Adriana Beqaj sold 35% of the shares to her partner Malaj and in January 2020 she sold him the remaining 15% of the shares. In 2022, the company was sold to Eduard Curraj, administrator of a large pharmaceutical distributor, Delta Pharma.

Although Adriana Beqaj donated and sold her shares in the company "Albanian Food and Hospitality Lab" in January 2020, based on the telephone interceptions carried out by the Prosecutor's Office in December 2023, doubts are raised that the former minister Beqaj continues to have financial interests in the restaurant Gzona. In these answers, Beqaj uses the phone of his driver, Arben Dani, to communicate with his subordinate, Ermal Kurtulaj, in order to connect with the restaurant's administrator, Gazmend Prenga.

Ermal Kurtulaj has an early acquaintance with Ilir Beqaj dating back to the time when the former minister was a partner of Intech+ company, continuing in 2015 in FSDKSH, where the head of the Supervisory Council was the citizen Ilir Beqaj himself, and then with the creation of the SASPAC agency, as employed in the Eusair Facility Point project.

Also, it turns out that the citizen Ilir Beqaj constantly uses a luxury vehicle of the Audi A8 model, both inside and outside the country, which turns out to be owned by the citizen Ermal Kurtulaj, raising suspicions that the vehicle could be property hidden of the former Minister of Health.

From the inspection of the E-Fine system, the prosecution notes that this vehicle received 3 fines where Arben Dani was present, the last of which turns out to have been received on December 12 at the time when the vehicle was used by Ilir Beqaj and was parked in front of SPAK. The former minister appears every week at the Prosecutor's Office because of the mandatory appearance measure as part of the sterilization investigation.

When asked about Ermal Kurtualaj, the former minister stated on Friday that he has known him for many years and from his work at SASPAC.

"I have known Ermal Kurtulaj for 15 years," he said. "Since May 2022, he has been working on a project that was also followed by SASPAC," added Beqaj.

From the interception of the communications carried out by the Prosecutor's Office, it has emerged that Ermal Kurtulaj is involved in the affairs of the Gzona restaurant. He is constantly interested in the success of this restaurant, acting as a superior to the restaurant's administrator, Gazmend Prenga, and in the last days of December, there are several communications between them regarding the reconciliations between the investments made on this restaurant throughout the year and the invoices of issued for that.

"From the communications carried out, it is suspected that the person under investigation, Ermal Kurtulaj, operates in this restaurant on behalf of the citizen Ilir Beqaj, suspicions that arise from the way these entities communicate and act, avoiding any involvement of this citizen (Ilir Beqaj) both with the administrator and with the partners and keeping the communications and reconciliations of the meetings through the citizen Ermal Kurtalaj," states the prosecutor Elida Kaçkini in the request "For the permission of the personal control and of the places" addressed to the Special Court.

On leaving SPAK on Friday, Ilir Beqaj denied having any financial interests in the restaurant.

"Local Gzona from February 2020 has no financial connection with my family," he said. "My wife left 4 years ago and from all the work, she got 1.5 million old lek," added Beqaj.

Gzona with EU funds

The State Agency for Strategic Programming and Aid Coordination, SASPAC, was founded by the Council of Ministers in October 2021, while Prime Minister Edi Rama appointed the former Minister of Health, Ilir Beqaj, to head the Agency.

The role of this agency is to coordinate the activity and national and regional financial assistance programs of the European Union, as well as to monitor their implementation. One of the programs that SASPAC manages and monitors is the 'USAIR Facility Point' program, which is a strategic project of 9 (nine) partners in eight countries, with the aim of supporting the processes implemented within the macro-regional cooperation of the Adriatic region. Ionian.

The coordinator of this project has been appointed citizen Ermal Kurtulaj, who is considered a facilitator who supports the State Coordinator of SASPAC, Ilir Beqaj in fulfilling his duties.

According to SPAK, around 4 pm on August 16, 2023, the commercial company 'Landways International' issued an invoice with the description; service contract' and a value of 149,809.21 euros against the EUSAIR program directed by Kurtulaj. A few minutes ago, the Gzona restaurant issued this company an invoice worth 4.18 million ALL and description of catering services.

The fact that the invoices were issued a few minutes after each other creates the reasonable suspicion "that the parties have previously talked with each other and that the amount constitutes a material benefit, corruption that the commercial company Landëays has paid to Gzona, for the service it has benefited from performed by Eussair.”

The prosecution raises questions that a similar case of the restaurant has been registered with the association 'Foreign Investors Association of Albania' (FIAA). According to the invoices, the Eusair project has issued a sales invoice to FIAA on August 17, 2023, at 15:40:55, in the amount of 22,000 Euros, and this association has issued 25 minutes later, an invoice worth 350,000 Lek against the "Gzona" restaurant.

Invoices issued by other culinary businesses were also used to transfer the funds of the USAIR project to the 'Gzona' restaurant, losing track. Based on the communication intercepted on November 11 between Ermal Kurtulaj and the administrator of the Me'NAM restaurant, the transfer of a value of 325 thousand ALL through fictitious invoices is discussed.

"These invoices... belong to the restaurant "Gzona" and these actions were carried out for the purpose of hiding the connection with Gzona and the citizen Ilir Beqaj, who is also the director of SASPAC that monitors these projects," the prosecution emphasizes.

Fictitious invoice and conflict of interest

According to the Special Prosecutor's Office, the coordinator of the 'USAIR Facility Point', Ermal Kurtulaj, is suspected as the key person in the corrupt scheme for the misuse of EU funds through fictitious invoices. According to SPAK, he has been involved in corrupt actions by seeking and accepting the issuance of fictitious invoices from various commercial entities and NGOs, placing fictitious values ??on invoices for personal gain.

From the telephone interceptions, the Prosecutor's Office states that Kurtalaj has requested and obtained two fictitious invoices worth 51,800 euros also from the company "Nine Services Int", which has as its object of activity "Services and consultancy in sports activities" - in particular in the sport of football.

Kurtulaj was intercepted requesting and obtaining fictitious invoices from several commercial companies in the culinary and hotel fields as well as consultancy invoices from natural persons worth tens of thousands of euros. In one case, Kurtulaj was observed by the prosecution taking what was apparently understood as a bribe from the administrator of one of the businesses that issued fictitious invoices.

According to the Prosecutor's Office, from the data administered up to this stage of the proceedings, the citizen Ermal Kurtulaj is found to be involved in other actions with employees of the Agency, specifically with the citizen Mira Topçiu, financial officer at SASPAC, who in cooperation with each other carry out as well as actions of the same nature, where in at least one case it is obvious to receive a benefit for a procured service such as hall rental and catering service.

In addition to this fact, it turns out that both of these persons have NPOs and natural persons registered in their name, which carry out actions with each other as a function of their state activity, thus being in a conflict of interest.

Mira Topçiu was not available for comment./ Reporter.al