"Rama and Veliaj, responsible for the incinerators"/ Swiss media, echoing Ahmetaj's interview

2024-02-02 21:35:00, Politikë CNA

"Rama and Veliaj, responsible for the incinerators"/ Swiss media,

The Swiss media "Tages-Anzeiger" has made an article about the first appearance of former Deputy Prime Minister Arben Ahmetaj after leaving Albania.

The article mentions the incinerator of Tirana that does not exist and the payments with Albanian taxpayers' money, while some of the questions that the former deputy prime minister asked yesterday evening in the interview with Çim Peka are asked.

Ahmetaj: "Top Channel" and other media were paid by the incinerators
February 1, 21:46

Ahmetaj's accusations against Prime Minister Edi Rama and against Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj are also listed.

Swiss media quotes Ahmetaj, saying that Veliaj is the "factual owner" of the Tirana incinerator.

"Albania is a country where incredible things often happen. Most of the waste incineration plants were never built, but the money flowed from the state coffers. The authorities made available over 100 million francs just for a facility in Tirana that does not exist until today.

Where did these funds disappear? Who benefited? Who is behind the massive corruption scheme?

Where did the 60 million of Tirana's incinerator go?
February 1, 22:41

These questions concern the judiciary, many Albanians have long since given up and are leaving the country for Western Europe.

In the interview, Arben Ahmetaj rejected the accusations and sees himself as a hostage. That sounds like an excuse. But his statements are definitely explosive.

Ahmetaj accused the two most influential Albanian politicians of corruption: Prime Minister Edi Rama and the mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj. They are responsible for waste incineration plant projects.

Journalists and well-known Albanian media companies also benefited. They reported the government's plans in an extremely sympathetic manner and allowed themselves to be used for propaganda purposes.

Anyone who asked critical questions had to be prepared for savage attacks. Last summer, the research platform Balkan Investigative Journalism Network (Birn) reported that the construction of the waste incineration plant in Tirana was personally initiated by Mayor Veliaj. He then names Veliaj as a "factual owner".

Denunciation: Veliaj, the de facto owner of the Tirana incinerator
February 1, 22:28

Ahmetaj, who has in-depth knowledge of Albanian internal politics, is quoted as having said: "If the judiciary investigates thoroughly, this affair can shake the country to its foundations."

The anti-corruption agency SPAK, founded with the help of the US and the EU, is facing its most important test. So far, several high-ranking politicians from the ruling Socialists have been sentenced to long prison terms in connection with the scandal, including a former minister and an MP.

The two entrepreneurs who were supposed to build the waste incineration plants have moved abroad. According to the Albanian investigators, one of them has a bank account in Switzerland", the article states, among other things./ CNA