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Tirana Incinerator/ The project that turned into an international scandal

2026-03-14 12:28:00, Aktualitet CNA

Tirana Incinerator/ The project that turned into an international scandal

The Tirana incinerator scandal is one of the biggest corruption cases in Albania in the last three decades and among the most important issues of public debate. An affair that also received the attention of international media.

It is an investment that has cost Albanians around 130 million euros, but the absurdity lies in the fact that this incinerator does not exist. More than 5 years after the signing of the contract, Tirana still has a mountain of garbage and 130 million euros for which no one knows where they went.

The case took on even greater proportions after investigations launched by the Special Structure Against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK), where dozens of people have been charged, but the main figures in this affair enjoy the money on the run and pay law firms for protection with money that comes from Albanian taxes, which pay tens of millions of euros to a structured criminal group.

At the center of the investigations have also been some of the companies that benefited from the contracts, government officials, as well as people connected to Mirel Mërtiri and Klodian Zoto as managers and co-owners of this affair.

The Tirana incinerator project was presented as a modern solution for the management and processing of the capital's urban waste, aiming to reduce pollution from landfills.

Tirana Incinerator/ The project that turned into an international scandal

But over time, not only did serious doubts emerge about the way the contracts were awarded, but it became clear that we were not dealing with an experienced Dutch company, but rather Zoto and Mërtiri were hiding behind strong ties to the Socialist Party and the government.

Further, hidden costs were revealed that raised suspicions of a corrupt project scheme, with the state having to pay hundreds of millions of euros over a period of several decades for waste processing to an offshore company with no real experience in waste processing.

Tirana Incinerator/ The project that turned into an international scandal

The two key names, Veliaj and Prençi

The Tirana incinerator issue is linked to several specific names, high-level officials, but also prosecutors, while the investigations have also included other former officials and company administrators.

Erion Veliaj, the arrested mayor of Tirana, has been in Durrës prison cells for more than a year, with 13 charges for 5 serious criminal offenses and none of them for the Tirana incinerator affair, which does not exist, despite the fact that the municipality of the capital is the main responsible for this scandal, it requested it, according to Veliaj, it should monitor it and would develop the activity in its territory.

Tirana Incinerator/ The project that turned into an international scandal
Erion Veliaj responds to Alqi Bllako and Lefter Koka, agreeing to the price of 29 euros/ton for waste.

The implementation of the project, its costs and the role of the Municipality of Tirana, from beginning to end, still remain criminally uninvestigated. On the other hand, the case drags on, raising doubts about the statute of limitations for some criminal offenses, and the doubts make everything seem deliberate and well-coordinated.

Dritan Prençi , prosecutor of the Special Prosecution Office, has been mentioned in hundreds of cases in media reports for negligence regarding the Tirana incinerator affair, as he 'sleeps' on this file.

Prençi has not acted for 5 years and has yet to complete the incinerator issue where the Municipality of Tirana has an essential role, but he does not see it, he has tried so hard that Erion Veliaj, when questioned by this prosecutor, came out smiling, happy and with strong support for SPAK. When he went to Altin Dumani and Ols Dado, he came out black.

For the Tirana incinerator, 10 million euros per year have been paid and continue to be paid according to the contract by the government and the Municipality of Tirana, without talking about other revenues or the unresolved problem of soil in Tirana being dumped into rivers and roads.

There are 130 million euros in income for the company until the moment of seizure by SPAK and dozens more that continue to be paid. But Dritan Prençi continues and shows how these millions of euros are paid and has still not found a single penny about where the Albanian tax money went and what is the role of Erion Veliaj and the Municipality of Tirana. 

The incinerator affair has become a symbol of the debate about corruption, transparency and the management of public funds in Albania, but also how investigations by a prosecutor on such a matter can fail, while in other investigative files the same individual "shines".

Tirana Incinerator/ The project that turned into an international scandal

Two standards from the same prosecutor, that Mërtiri and Zoto should place a monument in the Sharra landfill, exactly where they placed the installation supported by Ajola Xoxa. /CNA





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