Veliaj, a victim of Ols Dadas or of corruption in the municipality?

2026-04-03 21:01:00, Opinione Armand Shkullaku

Erion Veliaj is finally being tested in the first battle of his life, that of confronting SPAK during the court process against him, which has just begun. If his immediate rise to the top of power is dedicated to his amazing ability to bend under the shadow of Edi Rama, today he is forced to face charges of corruption, money laundering and concealment of assets himself before the special court.

And the first signs of this confrontation are not disappointing in relation to the personality of the imprisoned mayor. He is trying to wear the clothes of the victim, but without identifying his persecutor. Supported also by a chaotic media campaign, lobbied according to tradition, so far it is not clear whether Veliaj is a victim of the justice system, of a certain prosecutor or a political persecuted by the ruling party.

All this confusion seems to be a consequence of Veliaj's inability to wage a frontal battle either with the justice system or with his party "friends". He himself, the media that supports him or his brother who pays for the lobbying, are part of the same mechanism to which Veliaj wants to appear a victim. Therefore, his defense sounds chaotic, without a clear objective. The more he tries to appear defiant, the more depressing it becomes.

So far, Veliaj has not provided any counterarguments to the charges against him, claiming that the process is political. But while logically he should have provided the elements of this political persecution, Veliaj and his defenders are dealing with a prosecutor's name. This is where the defense becomes more than disappointing. Lacking the courage to go all the way to the end of the political persecution, Veliaj seeks to blame Ols Dado for everything he claims is being done to him unjustly. Dado is first presented as a black avenger who alone managed to imprison the mayor of Tirana. Then as an individual in a conflict of interest. Then as a prosecutor appointed in violation of the law, etc., etc. In this way, Veliaj is going to the courtroom with a great ambiguity between what he says and what he claims: Is he the victim of a rigged trial or of an angry prosecutor.

Veliaj's strategy of not dealing with the concrete accusations but with the process is precisely undermined by the above dilemma. There cannot be a political process and the author is a single prosecutor. Everyone is clear, even those who publicly defend him, that the accusations against Erion Velija are not the fruit of a prosecutor's sharp mind, but a consequence of the way he has led the Tirana municipality. It is enough to see the behavior of Prime Minister Edi Rama towards his designated successor to understand that he was indefensible.

Ols Dado has not accused Erion Velina personally, but as a public official. He has shown how businessmen who were clients of the municipality sent money to Ajola Xoxa's shell associations. How undeclared apartments and offices were paid for, how cash was circulated, how construction permit projects were changed for close people, how villas and other assets were hidden, how propagandist artists were paid with the money of the citizens of Tirana. Veliaj and his public defenders never talk about the concrete allegations of a file, the detailed work of prosecutor Dado, but have chosen to deal with the person. If they manage to "convince" some anonymous character lobbied by the corridors of Brussels or the mayor of Bogota, that Veliaj is being politically persecuted and this is the work of Ols Dado, in Tirana they will have to convince the court.

Erion Veliaj should have fought the battle for political persecution on time and from a different angle. He is fighting in court with Ols Dado, accused of corruption, money laundering and concealment of assets.