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The anti-SPAK political campaign

2025-02-20 17:48:00, Opinione Blendi Kajsiu

The arrest of Mayor Erjon Veliaj has produced a political campaign that has as its primary goal the delegitimization of SPAK and the new justice system. As never before, both sides of Albanian politics declare that SPAK has gotten out of control and must either be eliminated (according to Berishta) or reformed and controlled (according to the left).

Both the left and the right judge SPAK according to their political interests, distorting, belittling, or denying the colossal anti-corruption work that the new judiciary is carrying out, like never before in the history of the Albanian state.

The left has mobilized with all its political-state and media altruism to present the arrest of Veliaj and his wife as completely unfounded. There is even talk of a coup d'état against the socialist government. If we believe the socialist narrative, the SPAK file against Veliaj is full of fabrications and evidence manipulated by a Berishite prosecutor.
And yet a simple reading of the facts that are now accepted by everyone highlights that the evidence provided by SPAK produces a more than reasonable doubt about Mayor Veliaj's close ties with, and his benefits from, large builders who have benefited from considerable tenders from the Municipality of Tirana.

This is the case of the famous Qerret villa which, according to documents, continues to be owned by the firm Agi Kons Shpk, beneficiary of several important tenders from the Municipality of Tirana. At this point, it matters little whether the villa was owned by the late father-in-law of Mayor Veliaj or by the latter, as is being debated in the media.

The fact accepted by all is that on paper, formally, this villa is registered in the name of Agi Kons Shpk. This means that the mayor and his family have been vacationing for years in a luxury villa that is owned by the same firm that receives tenders from the mayor's office.

Doesn't this raise a reasonable suspicion of a problematic relationship between the mayor and this construction company? Is it normal for close family members of a high-ranking official, or his own family, to vacation for years in a luxury villa owned by a company that obtains a building permit from the official in question?
Isn't this a clear conflict of interest that at a minimum shows that there is an unhealthy relationship between the mayor and the builder in question? Even more so when it turns out, according to facts published in the media, that this builder has received from the Municipality of Tirana, in violation of the law, not only construction tenders but also tenders for the supervision of constructions that he himself carried out.

Of course, it is the court that will decide whether such a relationship can be classified as corrupt or not. I do not want to prejudge the relationship between Mayor Veliaj and the builder of the villa where he is vacationing.
But the socialist narrative that Veliaj was arrested by SPAK because his children's toys were found at his father-in-law's villa is a political smokescreen that attempts to erase the numerous facts identified by SPAK that highlight the embarrassing relationship between the mayor and a builder who benefits from his permission.

The same pro-government media that create this smokescreen ignore the other extremely disturbing fact that some of the main builders who received permits from the Municipality of Tirana were at the same time financiers of the Harabeli Foundation or of several other foundations controlled by the mayor's wife or her family members.
Here too, a reasonable suspicion arises that the builders' bribes can be packaged as donations to the foundations. Even more so when there is evidence that the expenses made by the directors of the foundations in question have not been transparent, or have been made in the name of third parties, in order to hide them.

Of course, here too, the court has the final say. But the silence of the pro-Rama media and journalists on the numerous foundations and firms of the mayor's wife and her family is deafening, even though yesterday these same media outlets denounced Liri Berisha's foundation as a mechanism for laundering her husband's bribes.

Instead of a cold and objective analysis of the facts produced by SPAK, such media outlets, every day, build the narrative of a violent and unjustified political arrest. The fact that SPAK has requested the arrest of the mayor because it claims that he, with his power, has influenced the investigation process by intimidating agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (BKH) does not appear at all in these media outlets.

There is only questioning a justice system that arrests a hardworking and innocent mayor while releasing and not investigating Berisha and his January 21. Even though it is the same justice system that arrested Berisha yesterday and today has accused and is trying him for corruption. According to this logic, SPAK is independent and non-political only when it formulates accusations that satisfy the pro-government media.

It is the same reasoning used by anti-government media outlets, for which Veliaj's arrest is only valid when it is based on the accusations they have raised regarding the Tirana ghost incinerator affair. Any other arrest is invalid because it does not show his gigantic corruption.

Therefore, according to these media, Veliaj's arrest showed once again that SPAK and the new justice system are at the service of Rama because the mayor was arrested for buying some interior items and not for the major violations he committed in tenders. It is a very weak dossier, declare the anti-Rama anti-Spakists.

It is surprising to see how the anti-Rama media echoes the government logic that minimizes the SPAK investigation and the facts it has produced, reducing it to the purchase of a few insiders. Accustomed to denunciations of abuses of hundreds of millions of euros, such as the case of the incinerators, these journalists find accusations of setting up a corruption scheme of one, two or three million euros ridiculous.

Although in the case of the incinerators affair you can prove an abuse of office, it is not as easy to identify or prove direct financial benefits on the part of the mayor. And of course an institution with extremely limited human and financial resources cannot focus on affairs that it may not be able to solve.

But the anti-SPAK political campaign has nothing to do with uncovering the truth, and even less with improving the new justice system, but with its delegitimization. This delegitimization is sometimes done to serve Rama's power, sometimes in function of Berisha's troubles, and sometimes in function of media egos that are more right than the facts. And this is the bad news.

The good news is that Veliaj's arrest, in addition to journalists who do politics, has also brought to light a number of journalists who produce journalism. It is the latter who have objectively and transparently exposed the SPAK file and its detailed investigation into the case of Mayor Veliaj.