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Ajola Xoxa's threads on "Harabel" and the incinerator/ The document that reveals dark financing

2024-05-09 19:55:00, Denoncim CNA
Ajola Xoxa's threads on "Harabel" and the incinerator/ The
Ajola Xoxa and Erion Veliaj

CNA has been denouncing for days the connections of Ajola Xoxa, the wife of Erion Veliaj, with the company "Harabel" and with the incinerator company of Tirana.

Other details have been reported about the "Ajola-H" scheme, which raises doubts about the use of art to launder money.

The Dutch journalist, Vincent Van Gerven, has published an investigative article, which shows the involvement of Veliaj's wife in such schemes.

The article published in " The Albanian Mechanism " is titled: How money is cleaned through art and waste management concessions?!

Vincent Van Gerven starts with a description of the company "Harabel" and its founder, Ajola Xoxa.

"'Harabel' is a non-profit foundation that 'focuses on the promotion of contemporary art' founded in 2018 by artist Driant Zeneli and 'cultural promoter' Ajola Xoxa, a lawyer specializing in energy law, who also happens to be his wife of the mayor Veliaj. Shortly after its founding, Harabel launched a series of high-profile public art projects, featuring internationally renowned artists such as Anri Sala (also on Harabel's board), Adrian Paci and Sislej Xhafa. With Tirana's contemporary art scene struggling in terms of both funding and space, and given that neither Zeneli, then an immigrant, nor Xoxa were firmly rooted in that scene, Harabel's meteoric rise was remarkable. .

On Harabel's current website, Xoxa lists herself as 'co-founder' and 'creative director'. She is also the founder of NAAN Gallery and GurGur Gallery, where 'Harabel' has organized exhibitions. The official address of 'Harabel' in Sky Tower, in the heart of the expensive area of ??Tirana Block, is in the same building as Ajola Xoxa's company 'The Partners'.

Ajola Xoxa's threads on "Harabel" and the incinerator/ The
Data on the official website of Ajola Xoxa

Harabel's former program director and current legal coordinator, Xhoi Skënderasi, also holds a seat on the board of Xoxa's publishing company, Encyclopedic Publications. In other words, 'Harabel' is closely related to Xoxa's business interests.

But how is this non-profit organization financed? And how does she get access to the main plots of land for her public art projects?", he writes in the article published a few days ago, brought back by the "Plug" show.

Financing of the Tirana incinerator

Further, the journalist tells how an artwork in Ajola Xoxa's "Harabel" company was financed by Tirana's incinerator company, "Integrated Energy BV SPV".

It all started in 2021, when in July the sculpture "Bee" by the artist from Kosovo, Sislej Xhafa, was placed in the territory of the Sharra landfill. The latter is an artist promoted by "Harabel" of Ajola.

According to the journalist, this sculpture was supposed to be the first of a series of works of art that would transform this landfill into a contemporary art sculpture park.

Ajola Xoxa's threads on "Harabel" and the incinerator/ The
The work "Bee" in the Sharra landfill

"A recently published paper provides one of the missing pieces of the puzzle. The contract stipulates that Xhafa will 'gift' Harabel its work 'Bee' and a company called 'Integrated Energy BV SPV' will install and maintain the work on its property for at least five years on behalf of 'Harabel' and the artist. While this document exhausts the question of how 'Harabel' structures its public art projects, this particular legal structuring raises a number of other questions, the most obvious among them: Why Integrated Energy BV SPV, a private company created for ' the management, administration and implementation of the works for the construction of the Tirana Waste Treatment Area', will provide the property and free support for the creation of a sculpture park on the outskirts of Tirana?", the article emphasizes.

The journalist raises questions about the interest and secret motives of Klodian Zoto and Mirel Mërtiri to finance the contemporary art of Ajola Xoxa.

Ajola Xoxa's threads on "Harabel" and the incinerator/ The
The work "Bee" in the Sharra landfill

"So, it would not be unreasonable to think that even their sponsorship of the artistic events of Harabel has hidden motives, just one of the episodes in a mutual exchange of favors between the municipality of Veliaj and businessmen. So, perhaps, after presenting a factual account, we can conclude with a brief speculation: As evidenced by the Ahmetaj file, Integrated Energy BV SPV was granted the Sharra concession thanks to the initiative and support of Mayor Veliaj, whose municipality is also responsible for payments to Integrated Energy BV SPV for a period of 30 years. In return, the company made the small gesture of supporting the nascent curatorial career of the mayor's wife by sponsoring a sculpture park at the landfill it manages," he points out.

Also, the journalist qualifies this action of the artist Sislej Xhafa as artwashing of a concession managed in a land washed with blood and at the expense of the citizens of Tirana.

"In all this, the artist Sislej Xhafa, who had spontaneously chosen the place 'without any prior suggestion', provided a facade of respectability, while in practice he facilitated the washing away of a concession managed in a land washed with blood and at the expense of citizens of Tirana, who are already facing a large increase in waste collection costs. After all, the money that flowed through Xoxa's 'non-profit foundation', Harabel and its gallery spaces is negligible within the wider landscape of Albanian expropriations, privatizations and concessions. But the principle that emerges from this is clearly the modus operandi of the government, which from its inception has actively appropriated some forms of cultural nature to serve its propaganda needs, distracting public attention from the work of its internal", the journalist continues.

Vincent Van Gerven has contacted the incinerator company of Tirana, "Harabel" of Ajola and Sislej Xhafajn, but none of them has given an answer.

The claim of "Harabel".

However, on July 3, 2021, Harabel's Instagram profile reacted by claiming that there was never a financial relationship between her and the Tirana incinerator company.

"Following the completely false speculations made against Sislej and/or Harabel, we feel obliged to state that there has never been a financial connection between Integrated Energy or any other company that manages or owns the Waste Treatment Area and Sislej or Harabel . NEVER!!! As anyone can see, the artwork was produced using an old window. Even the grid used for the artwork window was installed by the artist himself. AS IT IS CLEARLY PRESENTING, THE ACTION OF ART HAS A PRODUCTION COST EQUAL TO ZERO", stated "Harabeli".

To answer you, the show PLUG published the contract that shows the relationship between Ajola Xoxa's "Harabel" and the incinerator company. In order to camouflage and avoid the direct relationship with Ajola Xoxa, "Integrated Energy BV SPV" has signed a cooperation contract with the artist Sislej Xhafa. But as they say, the details are hidden under the lines, where it is revealed that despite the fact that the work is the artist's, the direct owner of this work is "Sparrow" by Ajola Xoxa.

Agreement with the incinerator company

At the end of the term of this agreement and or in case of dispute, the public work will always and permanently be returned to "Harabel", which exercises the right of ownership over the item.

Ajola Xoxa's threads on "Harabel" and the incinerator/ The
Agreement with the incinerator company

Another detail that shows that the work is owned by Harabel is the dot. 3.6 of the contract, which indicates that Ajola Xoxa has all the right to reproduce the work in case of damages.

Ajola Xoxa's threads on "Harabel" and the incinerator/ The
Agreement with the incinerator company

With regard to potential damages due to force majeure, fire, as well as any damage that the work may suffer, "Harabel" undertakes to reproduce the work "Bee" and exhibit it in the space defined in this agreement or in a other space you see fit. Only "Harabel" has the exclusive right to reproduce the work, thus excluding the artist, society or other persons.

Ajola Xoxa's threads on "Harabel" and the incinerator/ The
Agreement with the incinerator company

The financial relationship between Ajola Xoxa through "Harabel" and the company "Integrated Energy BV SPV" is also evident in this contract. In the contractual provisions for the maintenance of the "Bee" work, it is clearly stated that all costs will be covered by the incinerator company.

Ajola Xoxa's threads on "Harabel" and the incinerator/ The
Agreement with the incinerator company

The company "Integrated Energy BV SPV" undertakes to maintain the public works subject to this Agreement , and explicitly to carry out: cleaning from dust, environmental impurities, continuous maintenance of the greenery around it, showing due care for the smooth running as well as any other ordinary action related only to the aforementioned purpose.

But European history knows well the scheme of how some pieces of modern art, in luxury galleries or "selected" yards, perform exactly the purpose for which they were conceived by the "curators" and "promoters", money laundering. And the indications to 'fly' to the nest of the 'Sparrow' and the like are as strong as the indiscriminate destruction of concrete as badly as the unmanaged remains of the capital./ CNA





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