Commission of Inquiry is required for Erion Veliaj

2024-04-08 12:58:00, Politikë CNA

"Nisma Thurje" has requested the establishment of an investigative commission for the mayor Erion Veliaj.

It is requested that the procedures for the appointment of directors in the Municipality of Tirana be controlled and investigated, as well as why the internal audit mechanisms have failed in terms of the abuse of the municipality's tenders.

The request has also been supported by members of the opposition in the City Council.

Request:

Dear Mayor of the City Council, dear members of the presidency, dear advisers,

As you are aware, on December 8, 2023, the Special Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office issued 15 arrest warrants related to the investigation of the Tirana incinerator file, which began with a report to SPAK of the Thruje Initiative on June 24, 2020. Among the persons the director of infrastructure in Tirana Municipality was also arrested. Also, last week, on March 28, 2024, SPAK issued 9 other arrest warrants for former senior officials of the municipality of Tirana, including the former director of Tirana Water and Sewerage (UKT) and the former director of the Inspectorate. of the Defense of the Territory (IMT).

According to the data provided by SPAK, these leaders of the Municipality are accused of having used public power for years to abuse the municipality's tenders, embezzling tens of millions of euros from the taxes that the citizens of Tirana entrusted to us.

While the prosecution carries out the criminal control of the committed violations, we consider that as a Municipal Council it is necessary to take two actions:

1) An urgent meeting of the City Council, where we call the mayor to the interpellation (based on article 53, point 3.be of the Regulation of the City Council and articles 64, point d and 59, point 4 of the law 139/2015)

2) Establishing a temporary commission to investigate the procedures for appointing management structures in the Municipality of Tirana, and internal control mechanisms (Based on Article 38, point 2, of the Regulations of the Municipal Council)

First, we as the Municipal Council have the obligation to find out what has gone wrong in the process of recruitment and appointment of the management staff of the administration of the municipality of Tirana. Law 139/2015, article 64, point g, stipulates that the heads of directorates are appointed and dismissed by the mayor. Therefore, it would be important to check the procedures followed for the appointment of the arrested directors, in order to understand how these people managed to pass the control filters by being placed at the head of the Tirana municipality administration.

Also, the mayor should report to us on the measures he had taken to verify the accusations that were raised about the abuse of corrupt directors. It is worth noting that in the show Opinion on April 27, 2023, the mayor invalidated the suspicions that the directors of the municipality were abusing public power by stating that:

"...I have been informed about the case...and it doesn't seem like that to me, and it turns out to me that [the accusation that Mariglen Qato was benefiting from millions of euros through a private company] is a very big lie...".

If this belief of the mayor stemmed from the results of the internal audit, then it makes it very important to investigate why these reports failed to reveal the abuses of the municipality's tenders. On the other hand, if the mayor had not raised this conviction on the audit reports, it is worth investigating why he ignored these indications, and did not set in motion the internal control structures.

Second, we need to set up a temporary commission to investigate in depth where the municipality's internal control has failed. The legal framework, specifically law 139/2015, article 13 and article 43, determines that the municipality, in addition to the supervision and inspection exercised by the government and the Supreme State Control, is also subject to internal audit. Also, according to the UN regulation, article 39, provides that through the financial commission, as well as through the external auditor, the Council controls the administration of the municipality in the way the budget is spent.

The duration of the abuse of these directors and the high number of suspicious tenders, shows that these internal control structures have failed. The most significant example is how the conflict of interest went unnoticed by the internal audit in the case reported in the media that the company of the director of UKT's Sales Department won several times the tender to sell drinking water Tirana municipality.

Dear colleagues, if we fail to understand the systemic problems that have allowed these directors to waste the municipal budget, we risk that this abuse will continue even after their arrest, forcing us to continue to raise local taxes as a way to compensate for the abuse what the municipal leaders do. This is a practice that has apparently continued until the moment we speak, starting with the last decisions of the Municipal Council.

Moreover, at such a moment where the image of the municipality of Tirana has been damaged in public opinion, regaining trust is extremely important, to ensure the cooperation of the citizens of Tirana with the structures of the municipality, as well as to encourage the payment of taxes and local fees, without fear that they will end up in the pockets of municipal officials.

Based on the comparison that the mayor made of corruption with a disease in the body of the municipality. Our task as the City Council is to find out how widespread this disease is, and above all to understand if this is an autoimmune disease.

Hoping that all councilors are united when it comes to the fight against corruption and guaranteeing the integrity of the institution we represent, I send you these requests./ CNA