The prosecutor who doesn't investigate incinerators

Dritan Prençi

We bring to the attention of public opinion once again the SPAK prosecutor, Dritan Prençi.

A man who has been standing over the incinerator files for more than 7 years. We have brought facts, evidence, we have said, "Do you see this document?", "Do you see this file?"

Dritan Prençi is one of the SPAK prosecutors like many others that we have continuously supported, but when the facts, documents, files and materials show us that there are problems, then some questions arise, some doubts arise.

Is he an incompetent prosecutor, is he a corrupt prosecutor, or what is happening to him?

The incinerator case is the case of the century.

Dritan Prençi had the opportunity to show how professional he was, how he investigated, how corruption was discovered, because his investigations do not simply begin with the Tirana incinerator, but start in Fier.

And, from Fier to Tirana, through the same people, Klodian Zoto and Mirel Mërtiri, and their political, clientelistic and corrupt connections, through what was actually called a structured criminal group two years ago, where many names are missing.

Dritan Prençi has so far indicted and investigated several officials, from the lower levels, i.e. the project implementation units, the lower officials up to Lefter Koka, whom they have made a scapegoat for everything, as if Lefter was the person responsible for everything because he was in a ministry that did not have funds for such concessions that go into the hundreds of millions of euros.

The projected Tirana concession alone would receive 300 million euros from the Albanian government over 30 years, with hundreds of millions more added from the disposal of Durrës waste, without going any further into the income that would come from energy production, the sale of recyclable materials, etc.

In a few years, the company "IEBV", a company owned by Klodian Zoto and Mirel Mërtiri, received around 130 million euros, which received a concession and Dritan Prençi has the documents in all languages, from Holland, in official documents in shells, in Tirana to the beneficiaries, with direct and indirect links.

An investigation that is ongoing and has no head, and if Dritan Prençi thinks that the head remains Lefter Koka, this is an investigation that will never be closed, since the media will not stop, we will at least continue and denounce, because a minister who did not have a budget cannot be responsible. He may have his sins, his faults, his corruption, but this is another part.

So far the focus is on Lefter Koka.

But who are the others?

Could Lefter Koka do it without Erion Veliaj, who we have in the papers that gives approval contrary to the law and other facts and evidence because he is the beneficiary and he should manage the Tirana landfill, in which there is no incinerator and it is on the verge of an environmental disaster. So, God save Tirana because with what happened in Elbasan everything looks like a very scary scenario.

Erion Veliaj's letter

And, the prosecutor himself is responsible for these situations, who prolonged the investigation and ultimately brought us two or three names.

We don't have any major differences from Elbasan, Fier, etc.

Dritan Prençi is sleeping on the file.

It seems he turned off the lights and put the file in the dark.

We have brought him documents and facts that he knows, he has them inside and they have not yet been taken to court as evidence, there are still no other people under indictment.  And, when Erion Veliaj is taken by his colleagues after a quick investigation with 14 charges for 4 serious criminal offenses, Dritan Prençi remains silent.

You don't even see the minimal abuse of Erion Veliaj's office.

So the questions arise: Is he incompetent?

But how can someone who has the files and documents and reads them be incompetent?

Is he corrupt? Who caught Dritan Prenç?

Allegations have been raised in the media, accusations that he met with the mayor of Tirana.

There are public accusations that he has connections with powerful businessmen, oligarchs. But let these remain within the scope of words, but where are Dritan Prenç's deeds?

Is he incompetent or corrupt,  because he has not gone to the end of the investigations to fully uncover the beneficial schemes. Because there are thousands of square meters of real estate that Dritan Prençi has not seized, and we are bringing a case that we reported today.

There are dozens of people like this who paid money from citizens so that the holes could be opened, the soil could be deposited, and Mirel Mërtiri, Klodian Zoto and their associates could benefit from real estate and endless money.

What is Dritan Prençi in the whole story of the incinerator investigation? The one who is putting the lid on the manhole or the one who is doing justice?

There is no justice in pieces and partial. Especially if the money was not found and if the collaborators were not punished, because history will repeat itself. If the media did not receive an answer, those who were corrupted and took millions of Albanian euros, which must be returned to the state budget, from whoever they were stolen from, with whatever scheme, from any type of company, be it the largest media or the most powerful businessmen in the country.

Then Dritan Prençi would have done his duty, but in this case we don't know what he is, a prosecutor or what?

So far, it has remained within the framework of a man who is doing neither more nor less, simply and only prolonging the investigation of the incinerators issue indefinitely, which in fact has the scheme quite closed. Dritan Prençi has the documents in his file, but he is not acting. Perhaps out of fear or incompetence, but the truth is that Dritan Prençi has not yet given the final answer and has not paid attention to the most famous, most scandalous and most corrupt file like that of the incinerators.

Even though black smoke is coming out of Elbasan, Dritan Prençi is not able to bring white smoke to the investigations into Tirana./ CNA

Illustrative photo

The affair of the century, that of the incinerators, is one of the most discussed and denounced by the media in Albania, although there are also media outlets involved in corruption and scandals with companies that extorted the state budget and never built the imaginary incinerator in Tirana.

CNA, as promised, will continue to return to this issue today until the day when the investigations are completed with the seriousness they deserve and the legal responsibility and transparency that every citizen demands.

LAND SCHEME

The Tirana incinerator company did not simply use an instrument, namely: I take the money from the government, invest my own funds, build the incinerator and with this income generate some profits. No!

He received an additional contract, which in a few years went to 60 million euros, signed by the directors of the Municipality of Tirana, most of whom are still at large.

Erion Veliaj did not sign this contract, he left it to his subordinates, who became servants of Mirel Mërtiri and Klodian Zoto's "IEBV" company with vehicles rented from Blendi Gonxhja's incinerator company.

These vehicles were used by the Municipal Police and the structures of the Municipality of Tirana to track down construction companies and businesses, to seize soil and take it to the landfill for a fee, and then when the businesses needed it, they could take it back by paying a second time.

In this scheme, the Tirana incinerator company, in addition to the approximately 60 million euros declared according to the balance sheets in the Central Bank or calculations made by experts, turns out to have another way of profiting, which in fact the prosecution and in particular prosecutor Dritan Prençi seem to have overlooked and not followed through to the end.

DOCUMENT/CONTRACT BETWEEN ITS AND THE COMPANY LLANAJ CONSTRUCTION

Today we are bringing a contract. A contract from the company ?Integrated Technology Service? .

This contract was signed with the other party, the company "Llanaj Ndërtim". It concerns a building on "Isuf Myzyri" street in the capital.

But what does this contract tell us?

This contract explains everything, even for the simplest reader, in article number 2, where the object through this contract, which is party 2, is Klodian Zoto's "ITS" company, which assumes the initial payment for the disposal of soil-type waste that the "Llanaj Ndërtim" company will generate from the opening of the pit on "Isuf Myzyri" street.

According to this article of the contract and referring to the construction permit, these soils will be taken to the waste treatment area in Tirana, agreeing on a maximum amount of 85 thousand tons of soils.

CONTRACT BETWEEN ITS AND LLANAJ CONSTRUCTION COMPANY

Everything is clear. 85 thousand tons of soil are taken over by Klodian Zoto's "ITS" which takes them and deposits them at "IEBV", that is, at the Tirana landfill, where the incinerator should have been, again the company of Klodian Zoto and Mirel Mërtiri.

But in this case, there is no payment in this contract, so there is no money generated, but there is real estate.

According to this contract, it is determined that it will receive 85 thousand tons of soil for apartments with an area of ??500 square meters according to the plans attached to the contract that we are providing below.

CONTRACT BETWEEN ITS AND THE COMPANY LLANAJ NDERTIM, PAYMENT BY CLEARING 500 m2 SURFACE

There are apartments of various typologies, ranging from 58-60-66 square meters, etc.

Apartment typology, floor plan

Apartment typology, floor plan

Apartment typology, floor plan

Like this case, there are dozens of others that are directly from "IEBV", the Tirana landfill company of Mirel Mërtiri and Klodian Zotos, with construction companies, and indirectly, through third parties.

It is not just this case with the "Llanaj" company that we bring as an example, there are 500 square meters of property obtained from the Tirana landfill company, which in fact SPAK, like these and many others, should have seized to return millions and millions of euros to Albanian citizens.

Apartment typology, floor plan

Apartment typology, floor plan

We are talking about construction areas where the price now goes around 2000-2500 euros.

So, we are talking about 500 square meters that today cost 1 million euros or more for the Albanian state, which could be used to shelter the homeless, could be used for offices, for everything the state needs.

Apartment typology, floor plan

They can be sold and the money returned to the budget, returned to the citizens, because it was stolen from them.

Those 85 thousand cubic meters of land that were invoiced were paid for by those who bought that building, so the money was included in its construction costs and was included as the property of Klodian Zoto and "ITS".

It is not only ?ITS? that has this benefit. There are several companies, which are directly linked to ?IEBV?, the Tirana landfill company, which has won the 30-year concession, that make contracts with the business. They go and dig the pits, take the soil and take it to the Tirana landfill and do not receive money, but they receive real estate, they receive construction land.

There are several companies involved here, there are officials and former officials of the Municipality of Tirana involved, the structures of the Municipal Police are involved, which and the way they functioned are usually shown, a simple municipal policeman, a driver who yesterday followed trucks with dirt on the roads, an environmental inspector of the Municipality of Tirana.

INVESTIGATIONS INTO INCINERATORS HAVE NOT GONE WHERE THEY SHOULD

This is the case to say that the investigations of the incinerators have not gone as far as they should, they have not even gone to the assets and properties that Klodian Zoto, Mirel Mërtiri and others have acquired, not only from this scheme, but also other schemes, which are in the file.

From this scheme, there are thousands and thousands of square meters of apartment space, shops, and real estate that have been taken over by third parties on behalf of Mirel Mërtiri and Klodian Zoto in the land disposal scheme.

This is a proven file, but in this type of form, endless other assets can be found, which are in the files of "ITS", are in the files of "IEBV", the files of other companies, to return millions and millions of euros of real estate to citizens, to return to the state a portion of the money that was stolen.

And this is another fact that is partially in the incinerator file and has not yet been fully investigated.

And these properties probably continue to fuel the gluttony, corruption, and theft of the incinerators' organized crime group./ CNA

Blendi Gonxhja is not an unknown figure in Albanian politics, he is currently a minister. He was rehabilitated in politics by becoming the General Director of the DPSHTRR.

Gonxha entered politics as a December student, deputy mayor of Tirana.  The man who caused the flood and took no responsibility, on the contrary, fled to Greece and started his own activities and businesses, although he left behind a flooded Tirana with millions and millions of euros in damage.

But let's go back to today.

Blendi Gonxhja is the most voted person in the SP.

Anyone you tell them is surprised. With profound differences, CNA has reported on the connections with criminal groups in Vora, Tirana and everywhere.

Blendi Gonxhja is a very complex character, whose tentacles extend to politics, business, and the bag of votes linked to crime.

He is also in another file, in the incinerator file, which Dritan Prençi cannot see, the prosecutor to whom day after day we have extracted dozens of facts, evidence and documents about the Tirana incinerator, for the media, such as the case of "Top Channel", but also for politicians such as the case of Blendi Gonxha, or others.

BLENDI GONXJA ASK TO GET READY FOR A BIG BATTLE

What is Blendi Gonxha's big battle?

What we say is not coincidental, but was written by Gonxha himself after the election results were released in his close group that he uses for communication on social networks.

"This was a victory. Get ready for an even bigger race."

In fact, there could be two major competitions.

One, the race for the Municipality of Tirana, where he has probably sharpened his teeth, and the second race is the one he should have with SPAK and prosecutor Dritan Prençi, who unfortunately "sleeps" on the incinerator file.

WHY IS THEMI SLEEPING AND WHERE IS BLENDI GONXJA?

Blendi Gonxhja is directly at the incinerator company with a very clear scheme. 

CNA has shown how the company of Blendi Gonxha's family has leased cars for the Tirana incinerator, for the company "Integrated Energy" of Klodian Zoto and Mirel Mërtiri. ( READ HERE )

Everything on paper looks correct.

The Tirana incinerator company goes to Blendi Gonxha's company, rents some cars, and pays the money to Mirel Mërtiri and Klodian Zoto.

But isn't it that simple?

What happened?

Dozens of cars were rented from Mirel Mërtiri to Blendi Gonxhja and these vehicles were provided in the 2021 elections for the SP campaign and for use by the Municipality of Tirana.

CNA also brings facts about the payments made from January to July 2021 for dozens of vehicles leased by the company "Albarent" to the Tirana incinerator company.

According to the document provided by CNA, the partner with 100% of the shares and owner of "Albarent" is Elda Gonxhja, the wife of Blendi Gonxha.

Document showing ownership of "Albarent"

Data shows that, in a 7-month period from January to July 2021, Gonxha received around 73 million lek from the Tirana incinerator company.

Payments of the Tirana incinerator company to Blendi Gonxha's company

We must emphasize that Blendi Gonxha's company received around 73 million lek in a period from January to July 2021, while the incinerator activity began in 2014 and until the time SPAK took action and announced the incinerator people were wanted, we do not know how much Blendi Gonxha may have been paid by the Tirana incinerator company.

OTHER FACTS

CNA has uncovered facts about how Mirel Mërtiri and Klodian Zoto gave the Municipality of Tirana tools for use without receiving anything in return.

These vehicles, which were in the service of the Municipal Police and other structures of the Municipality of Tirana, would go and follow businesses and monitor the roads to guard the trucks of soil where there were construction sites, to take them to the landfill.

So, the Tirana incinerator company, "Integrated Energy", took the assets from Blendi Gonxhja by paying lek, gave them to the municipality at no cost, and the municipality came around Tirana, catching businesses that were taking the land.

The income from this business for Mirel Mërtiri and Klodian Zoto amounted, at least in those years that were ascertained with balance sheets declared to the Central Bank, to around 60 million euros.

So, there are 60 million euros received by the Tirana landfill company in collaboration with the municipality, with the equipment that was rented from Blendi Gonxhja.

A set of tools were used, as we said, during the 2021 election campaign.

Dritan Prençi "sleeps" on the file

Dritan Prençi has all these facts in his file, but he is ignorant, because he cannot connect the scheme with Blendi Gonxha?

Is he incapable of finding the criminal offense? Or does he not want to rest between the legs of the oligarchs or at the tables of those who have guaranteed Veliaj that Dritan Prençi will not press charges against the mayor of Tirana?

That he will tear the file apart, delay it, make it a mess, and this story will end once and for all.

The evidence is in the file, both for Erion Veliaj, and for Blendi Gonxhe and his vehicle rental company.

Why exactly did Mirel Mërtiri receive funds from Blendi Gonxhja to give to the Municipality of Tirana or to use in the 2021 campaign?  What is the reason?  Were there no other cheaper companies? Is it a private-private agreement that our politics often uses?

No, it's a scheme! Did Blendi Gonxha or Mirel Mërtiri pay the money?   Is the financial transaction that the Tirana incinerator company made with Blendi Gonxha's family true?

So, the payments were made for these rented vehicles, so there are very reasonable suspicions that the scheme is fictitious and formal.

But the scheme is like this: the funds are taken, used for the interest of Mirel Mërtiri and Klodian Zoto and Blendi Gonxhja is part of this scheme to move his funds, but the money may have been paid by Mirel Mërtiri in the end.  This is the money from Albanian taxes, this is the money of Albanian businesses in the capital, the builders, who are ultimately billed to the buyers, the citizens.

So, this is a clear scheme.

CNA has reported it and this is the third article we are bringing about Dritan Prenç, the SPAK prosecutor, at whom we are not pointing fingers, but are mentioning facts that are in the file and that everyone probably already knows have been repeated many times.

But, all of this, from Veliaj's documents or his media appearances demanding that the incinerator be built and showing off his chest before saying 'I'm the one who did this injustice', the documents that are signed, the cars that are rented, the money that is given to the media, the partnerships with the media, are in the file of Dritan Prenç, the SPAK prosecutor.

The latter seems to have fallen into a lethargic sleep and is turning the incinerator issue from a scandalous mega-affair worth hundreds of millions of euros into a ridiculous case to imprison a few officials who were simply following orders.

Also, on the other hand, he has taken up the "boxing gloves" and is hitting Lefter Koka as if he is the mastermind behind everything, while the beneficiary is Erion Veliaj and the Municipality of Tirana and there are no charges.

While Blendi Gonxhja has received money from the company, no one is investigating him, no charges are being filed against him.

While he received money and became a partner with "Top Channel", no one is investigating the media, there are no charges.

This confirms what we said above, that Dritan Prençi, in the lap of an oligarch, guarantees that he will tear apart the incinerators' file and Erion Veliaj will not be charged, nor will other senior Albanian state officials involved in this affair./ CNA

Dritan Prençi, prosecutor, illustrative photo

The incinerator file is one of the biggest affairs in Albania. One of the affairs that we had not seen or heard of in these 34 years of democratic transition.

CNA is bringing a document today, which has an invoice value of around 60 million euros.

This document was signed on 15.10.2018 and the company "Integrated Energy BV SPV sh.pk" Later, in the Netherlands, it changed its name and became "Geogenix". This company, which went through many procedural and technical actions to hide the name of Klodian Zoto, as a shareholder, or of Giuseppe Ciaffaglione, after deceiving the Albanian state with a major international brand like 'Paul Wurth'.

This company won a contract "For the construction of a landfill, incinerator and rehabilitation of existing landfills" in Tirana. An incinerator, which in fact does not exist, and a landfill that is ready in an emergency for the capital.

There is no more capacity for holding the garbage, there is no more capacity for the soil. Everything is mismanaged, misdirected, turned into something beyond a scandal.

The big crime is the fact that in the concession contract document, the company had defined the issue of soils. However, a misunderstanding was found regarding solid waste, which would cost the pockets of businesses and citizens of Tirana about 60 million euros.

After the company made an agreement with the directors of the Municipality of Tirana, Evisjon Salku and Taulant Tusha, who seem to have no right to sign that kind of document, since the contract is made by the contracting authority, which should have been the Municipality of Tirana and would have been signed by the mayor, not a bunch of directors signing some papers.

Perhaps those directors are some inside and some outside the "5D" scheme, but they had no right to use the official seal of the Municipality of Tirana. That is used by the mayor and the institutions well-defined in the law.

They invented the soils, their transportation to the landfill. They made a contract, put some seals on it and let themselves be like hyenas on the business, setting fees so that the soils would be taken to the Sharra landfill by force and then, by force, you would buy them again. When you took them, you paid 400 lek/m³, so about 4 euros, when you picked them up, you got them for 8, or they went up to 10-12 euros depending on the type of differentiation, soils, inerts, etc.

Let's go further.

They avoided in this contract the possible recycling of the soils, so that the construction company itself does not have one pit, but two pits and one is being eroded, digging, the other is finished, soil is needed for settlements. They were not allowed to take it, but they had to go once to get the money from Klodian Zoto and Mirel Mërtiri, then get the money again to get the soil from Klodian Zoto with Mirel Mërtiri. They could not transport the soils from facility 1 to facility 2, so that what could be called the process of recycling the soils could be done. And this is because of this famous contract that is in the incinerators' file.

This contract is in the hands of prosecutor Dritan Prençi.

The land issue is one of the biggest issues that has a major impact on the payments made for the incinerators. The payment, which, we should emphasize, is around 10 million euros per year, is still being paid by the Albanian government, through an unconditional transfer from the Municipality of Tirana, and the rest is paid by the citizens of Tirana, after the builders left the bill of 15 euros/m² that they incurred during construction to the citizens.

This document is a serious accusation in the incinerator issue and cannot be closed with 3-4 technicalities with Lefter Koka or Taulant Tushe, with some official who probably didn't feel any pain from the meat that Mirel Mërtiri and Klodian Zoto have distributed on the spit.

The land affair leads the case to a structured criminal group and this is not the only document that Dritan Prençi has in his file regarding the Tirana incinerator case. ( READ HERE )

This is one of the main documents.

CNA, from today onwards, will continue day after day to recover the documents about the Tirana incinerator, to return the memory to the public, to show everyone that the incinerator issue is not easily forgotten, even if the prosecutor wants to close it.

There are documents that will be opened with another prosecutor, with another case, with other details, no matter how much businessmen, billionaires, media, partnerships, and politics try to throw such a criminal affair in the trash or think that the biggest miracle is that it lasts 3 days. ( READ HERE )

The wonder of the incinerators will never end, until the day when even the last responsible person and the one who took the last penny and stole the pockets of poor Albanians will be held accountable./CNA