TIRANA, Apr. 30, 2024 – Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj was summoned on Tuesday to the office of Albania’s Special Prosecutors for Organized Crime and Corruption (SPAK) as part of its investigation into corruption related to the construction of the Tirana waste incinerator.
The move marks the first time Mr. Veliaj has been summoned by SPAK, while he has long been at the center of attacks by Albania’s center-right opposition, which sees the Socialist mayor as a key figure in the Tirana incinerator case and other alleged corruption tied to the municipal government, the country’s largest local government.
Accusations have also been publicly leveled against Mr. Veliaj by former Deputy Prime Minister Arben Ahmetaj, who has been in hiding since last summer after SPAK issued an arrest warrant for him in the corruption case relating to construction of waste incinerators.
-Opposition demands the mayor’s resignation-
The Municipality of Tirana has seen a slew of its officials arrested by SPAK in the past year on corruption-related charges, and the opposition has demanded Mr. Veliaj’s resignation.
The opposition has also demanded an extraordinary meeting of the Municipal Council, where it wants Mr. Veliaj to explain how millions of euros of taxpayer money went to companies prosecutors believe were corrupt.
The opposition has been organizing protests in front of the Municipality of Tirana building for several weeks, calling for Mr. Veliaj’s resignation. The protests have been accompanied by tensions with numerous police forces as well as violent episodes, including the throwing of Molotov cocktails at the entrance of the municipality building.
-Series of arrest gut municipal governance-
In August of last year, SPAK seized the waste treatment plant in Tirana. The contract for its construction, with an estimated investment cost of 128 million euros (excluding VAT), was signed by the company Integrated Energy B.V. S.P.V. sh.p.k and the Ministry of Environment in 2017. The company’s real owners are unclear as they are hiding behind a shell company registered in the Netherlands.
However, SPAK believes, based on its investigations, that two Albanian entrepreneurs, Klodian Zoto and Mirel Mërtiri, are the owners of the Tirana plant, as well as two others in Elbasan and Fier.
In December, the Special Court, at the request of SPAK prosecutors, issued 15 arrest warrants as part of investigations into the Tirana incinerator, six of which were house arrest. Among the arrest warrants for imprisonment was also the name of Taulant Tusha, General Director of Public Works at the Municipality of Tirana, one of the most important and weighty positions, considered one of the closest collaborators of Mayor Veliaj.
Similarly, there was also an arrest warrant for another former director of the municipality, Namik Thimixhi, who covered waste management and was directly subordinate to Tusha.
Also arrested in the sweep were former Environment Minister Lefter Koka, as well as former Socialist MP Alqi Bllako. The two entrepreneurs — Mërtiri and Zoto — are also wanted men in the same case.
Mr. Veliaj has repeatedly dismissed suspicions of his involvement in the Tirana incinerator case, stating that “the only thing that has connected me has been the cleanliness of this city, now exemplary in cleanliness.”
In March of this year, the Municipality of Tirana suffered another corruption-related blow when two former officials, Redi Molla, who was head of the company Water Supply and Sewerage, and Maringlen Qato, until recently head of the Inspectorate of Territorial Defense, were arrested on suspicion of “passive corruption” and “concealment of undeclared assets.” A second arrest warrant was issued for Taulant Tusha, suspected of “violating equality in tenders.”
The former directors, Molla and Qato, are suspected to be the real owners of the 5D company, which, according to ongoing investigations, has irregularly benefited from tenders from agencies under the municipality. In a lengthy public statement earlier this month, Mr. Veliaj distanced himself from his former directors, stating that anyone involved should face justice themselves.
