"The evidence is out in the open, justice will be done"/ Teliti: Veliaj no longer deserves the status of "mayor"

2025-02-02 17:44:00, Politikë CNA

"The evidence is out in the open, justice will be done"/ Teliti:

The member of the Municipal Council of the Democratic Party of Albania, Dorian Teliti, in a recent television appearance, emphasized that Erion Veliaj, sooner or later, will end up before justice for the affairs in the Municipality of Tirana as the evidence is in the open. Teliti emphasized that the opposition protests in front of the Municipality of Tirana have had an effect, while adding that Erion Veliaj no longer deserves to be called mayor.

"We have been protesting in front of the Tirana City Hall for 44 weeks, which in my opinion, although it is a long time, since we are talking about protests that have been going on for 10 months now, has been a protest that has yielded an incomplete result, but a good result. Because if it were not for this protest today, there would be no talk at all about Erion Veliaj; nor about the incinerators, which are 132 million euros missing; there would be no talk about "5D"; nor about the endless concreting of Tirana and so on.

You have seen that our protests are not just political rhetoric, but are moments when we denounce everything that happens in the Municipality of Tirana, but also the troubles and concerns that the citizens of Tirana have. Something needs to be said, I believe that justice will be done one day. So, the day will come when Erion Veliaj will face justice, this will happen. But, we are too late.

And often delayed justice translates into absent justice. We have the documents, and only the very first document that has come out, that Erion Veliaj took on the financial commitment without convening the Municipal Council, that is, taking on a public official who takes on the functions of another official of a completely different institution.

The Mayor was taking over the powers of the Municipal Council, and this is clearly in violation of the law and is penalized with "abuse of office". That alone would be enough for Erion Veliaj to be brought to justice. In these 30 years, other people have been brought to justice for things much less than that, for documents much less significant than this, but the only one who is not punished is this mayor.

Is there an incineration process where this year we will pay another 13 million euros. We have spent 133 million so far, let's add these other 13 million, where we pay 40 thousand euros for the Tirana incinerator, where this physical process is carried out?

Since this is a physical process, it is not consultancy or advice, and this process needs physical premises, so is this being carried out? Is there no way for the prosecution to verify this?! It should go to the Tirana Landfill, ask where the building where the incineration process is carried out is, if it exists, well, if not, put the handcuffs on everyone from the first to the last person who carries out this kind of affair. On the other hand, this scheme of "5" was raised in the Municipality of Tirana by its directors.

I am of the principle that anyone who works also makes mistakes, and mistakes are not intolerable, but if you can make mistakes 1,2,3 times, because you made a mistake 3 times for the same thing, either you are professionally deficient, or you are making the mistake intentionally. So let the Mayor decide for himself which case he will refer to as an alibi, because if it is identified that 29 times "5D" took 100% of the Municipality and Water Supply budget, we can take it as tolerance, or we can take it as incompetence.

Because 29 cases cannot pass by Veliaj and he does not know anything. 29 cases are the ones we know, but there may be dozens of other cases that are not yet known. So, let him solve it himself, in all cases he does not deserve to be at the head of the Municipality of Tirana. But for those cases with hundreds of thousands of euros and millions of euros there are various controls that are carried out.

In this specific case, I believe that justice will be done, as the evidence is clear, but I repeat that every day that it is delayed is justice denied. We should not continue like this, because every day that Erion Veliaj is in that position, he and his staff manage 1.5 million euros a day, this budget money.

"Not to mention the interests in construction, public properties, or in rural areas, where we know a lot about what happens with construction permits or with both public and private land, which are taken and given in a frightening and scandalous manner, and often illegally," said Teliti. /CNA