2.5 million euro tender/ The construction businessman accuses Erion Veliaj of corruption

2024-01-08 16:10:00, Aktualitet CNA

2.5 million euro tender/ The construction businessman accuses Erion Veliaj of

Illustrative photo

The construction businessman Faik Curri has accused the Mayor of Tirana Erion Veliaj of corruption with the 2.5 million euro tender for urban retraining in a neighborhood of Tirana. It is about the urban reconstruction of the block bordered by Bajram Curri Boulevard and Petro Nini Luarasi Boulevard.

Through an official request for action addressed to the Municipality of Tirana, the company Curri shpk accuses the Mayor Erion Veliaj of not implementing two decisions of the Public Procurement Commission for almost 1 year in open violation of the law, which forces the head of the Municipality to announce winner and to conclude the contract of this procurement procedure with Curri company.

"The tender held since March 2023 has dragged on endlessly with the aim of disqualifying our offer. For more than 6 months, two decisions of the KPP have not been implemented, only to realize your intention to award this contract to a bidder with a value of 170 thousand euros higher than our offer" states the request for action that the company directed to Mr. Veliaj.

In the letter, the company calls on the mayor to stop what it considers illegal actions.

"Mr. Veliaj, stop this abuse of power by preventing the conclusion of this contract. We will not let our legal right be violated and we will not allow the abuse of City Hall finances to benefit you personally or your loyal staff," continues the company's strong accusation against the mayor.

The tender

The tender worth 270 million lek for the urban requalification of the block bordered by Blvd Bajram Curri, Petro Nini Luarasi and Taluantia, Ali Demi streets was announced by the Municipality of Tirana in February of last year. In the competition, 10 offers were submitted, where Curri shpk offered the price of 189.2 million ALL, but in the offer, due to a slip, the figure was incorrectly quoted as 149 million ALL.

However, the Municipality of Tirana disqualified the 7 lowest bids, including that of the Curri company, preliminarily announcing the winner of the bid of the Liqeni VII company with 206 million ALL.

War in KPP

After the Municipality of Tirana declared Liqeni VII the winner of the tender, the company Curri shpk appealed the tender to the Public Procurement Commission.

In June of last year, the KPP accepted Curri's appeal, finding her disqualification from the municipality to be illegal. In the decision, the KPP ordered the Municipality of Tirana to change the assessment by announcing the Curri company as the winner, as well as by correcting the mistake in the offer in the correct value of 189 million ALL.

But despite the decision of the KPP, the contract was not concluded. The company complained again to the KPP asking the Commission to order the Municipality of Tirana not to delay the conclusion of the contract and to implement its decision by correcting the offer.

Through a second decision in November last year, the Public Procurement Commission again gave the right to the company by officially ordering the Municipality of Tirana to implement its previous decision of June and conclude the contract with the Curri company.

But this time, the Municipality partially implemented the decision of the KPP by qualifying the Curri company's offer, but leaving its incorrect value, that of 149 million euros. According to the company this is intentional.

"We are preparing the file of this entire procurement procedure, where we have documented abuses of duty by your staff and you personally, and we will turn to SPAK," the company concludes the letter addressed to Mayor Veliaj./ Kapitali.al