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Investigation/ Court catches Erion Veliaj red-handed, abuse of office by decision

2025-06-19 13:08:00, Denoncim Elvi FUNDO

Mayor Erion Veliaj's troubles are not over.

After 13 charges filed under four important articles of the Criminal Code such as committing "Active and passive corruption of local elected officials", "Laundering the proceeds of crime", "Bringing prohibited items into detention cells", "Refusal to declare, failure to declare, concealment or false declaration of assets, private interests of elected officials and public servants or of any other person who has a legal obligation to declare" , Erion Veliaj has now been caught by another court.

CNA warns of publication of other shocking documents about Veliaj
June 16, 2:48 PM

So, it is not SPAK that has filed an accusation against the mayor of Tirana, but CNA was able to secure and investigate through a decision of the Administrative Court that highlights the abuse of office and conflict of interest committed by Mayor Erion Veliaj. This happened while Veliaj was in prison with the decision of the Appeals Court of the Republic of Albania, after his arrest on February 10, 2025.

With a decision dated 27.03.2025 by Judge Gentian Hamiti, Erion Veliaj was caught red-handed by the Administrative Court of Appeal, after he abused his office by interfering with the General Local Plan, which is competent to be approved by the KKT, and abusively intervened with a Detailed Local Plan to build a road.

According to the approved PDV, Unit Tr-7 is bordered by four main roads: Rr. “Bardhyl”, Rr. “Derhemi”, Rr. “Hoxha Tahsim” and Rr. “Qemal Stafa” and the only internal road that crosses the unit is Rr. “Faik Tërnova”.

In PDV Tr-7, there is a non-existent road inside it, which overlaps private property, violating the property interests of other owners, members of society.

Investigation/ Court catches Erion Veliaj red-handed, abuse of office by

"Faik Ternova" Street

So, we have a decision signed by the mayor in violation of the law to build a road.

At first glance, the construction of the road brings development to the area. Everything seems normal.

BUT THE PEAR HAS ITS TAIL BACK...

The signing of this new road through a local plan was in total violation of the law, as in order to build a road it must go through the National Territorial Council because the capital's development plan did not contain that road.

Residents complain and the case goes to the Administrative Court of Appeal, which is also competent for such clashes.

It's quite simple.

Two organizations, "ResPublica" and "Shoqnia Tirona Autoktone", filed a lawsuit in Court, saying that the decision taken by Veliaj was in violation of the law and in conditions of pure conflict of interest.

"The decision of the mayor to approve the PDV for the Tr-7 structural unit was issued under conditions of conflict of interest due to indirect private interests that have influenced this decision-making. On the other hand, it is worth noting that the approval of this plan by the mayor was made without prior public consultation with interested parties," the lawsuit filed by the two organizations states, among other things.

CNA was able to uncover the parties involved, to fully unravel the scheme, who the people involved are, and why this road was built.

But in the first part we are making this decision.

The first and last pages of the decision show that the mayor of Tirana was caught red-handed by the Administrative Court of Appeal.

The decision of the Administrative Court of Appeal for Veliaj

It is not known whether SPAK has this case as part of its file, but looking at the date 27.03.2025, it seems that beyond the file that SPAK has for Erion Veliaj, another file has been discovered, which is a court decision for abuse of office.

So, there is no need for either SPAK, prosecutors or investigators to investigate and investigate. The decision of the Administrative Court of Appeal, the documents attached by the lawyers in the case, and Erion Veliaj already has a charge before the court, which is abuse of office, and SPAK can take him to the Criminal Court of Kosovo without completing the investigations into the other cases that are undergoing relevant procedures.

Erion Veliaj is accused of abuse of office by decision of the Administrative Court of Appeal.

The court's decision states that he violated the law because it was not within his jurisdiction.

“Returning to the case under trial, it results that from the totality of the written evidence, the defendant party has not respected the standards of due process, since it has not informed the interested parties through one or more traditional means of information and has not held public meetings with them (point 7 of Article 22 of Law No. 104/2014). Under these conditions, in addition to the lack of competence to issue the administrative acts under trial, the Administrative Court of Appeal also finds non-compliance with the procedure for issuing them. Consequently, the administrative acts under trial are partially absolutely invalid, based also on point ii) of letter a) of Article 108 of the Code of Administrative Procedure, according to which, an administrative act is absolutely invalid when it is in open and flagrant contradiction with an imperative provision of this Code and the legislation in force regarding: ii) the procedure for issuing it. In the case under trial, the Administrative Court of The appeal emphasizes that the lack of competence is the main reason/cause of the partial invalidity of administrative acts. Meanwhile, procedural violations related to the failure to inform interested parties (third parties) are treated only as a supporting argument, not as an element that stands on the same level as the lack of competence," the decision states.

On the other hand, the Administrative Court of Appeal does not find Mayor Erion Veliaj in a conflict of interest, but simply and only in the decision states that the first and second points are rejected, rejecting and saying that these decisions taken by the mayor are in violation of the law.

“The Court, based on Articles 40, 41 of Law No. 49/2012 dated 03.05.2012 'On Administrative Courts and the Adjudication of Administrative Disputes' Decided:

1-Partial acceptance of the lawsuit.

DECIDED:

2. Determination of the absolute partial invalidity of the Detailed Local Plan, Structural Unit TR/7 – Phase 1, approved by decision of the Mayor of Tirana No. 36848, dated 24.09.2021.

3. Determination of the absolute partial invalidity of the Detailed Local Plan, Structural Unit TR/7 - Phase 2, for structural unit TR/7_3, approved by decision of the Mayor of Tirana No. 36848/1, dated 24.09.2021.

4. Dismissal of the lawsuit for other searches," the decision states, among other things.

The decision of the Administrative Court of Appeal for Erion Veliaj

Now CNA will bring further materials to show who the parties involved are, how this process was developed, whether there really is a conflict of interest to further shed light on another scandalous file of Mayor Erion Veliaj, who has invented a path to lead to the personal corrupt interests of his family members and here he has not only abused his duty and exploited his position, but in a pure conflict of interest he has sought to develop properties, the money of which went into the pockets of Erion Veliaj's family members, but this belongs to the second part of the investigation.

Erion Veliaj may seek to build roads, but he must expropriate the owners.

The first part is this decision, which clearly shows us that Erion Veliaj has been caught off guard by the Administrative Court of Appeal and now SPAK has a file prepared simply and solely to take him to Court on charges of abuse of office.

After 13 charges, this appears to be the 14th./ CNA