During the co-governance mandate with Edi Rama, the name of Ilir Meta reappeared in another corruption story where he was suspected of being implicated, the CEZ-DIA case. Kastriot Ismailaj, a close acquaintance of Ilir Meta, is serving his sentence behind bars for this affair.
On September 1, 2010, the company directed by Ismailaj "DIA" entered into a contract with CEZ checks for the collection of outstanding debts of the Energy Distribution Operator. In the testimony given by the former director of the CEZ board, Josef Hejsek, Ilir Meta had recommended Kastriot Ismailaj as his trusted man who should be given the contract.
"Referring to all my investigations, but also to the testimony of the former head of CEZ Jozef Hesek, Ilir Meta was exactly the man who proposed Kastriot Ismaili, the man of the Albanian government, close, confidant with him and former KM Berisha, in the economic and political circles of the country, and the right person to deal with the collection of old debts inherited from the time when KESH had not yet been separated from OSSH and KESH and which captured the amount of 460 million dollars" - said lawyer Romeo Karaj.
In 2017, the Tirana court sentenced Kastriot Ismailaj to 11 years in prison for a fraudulent scheme. In the decision, it was ordered that the financial sums of nearly 5 million euros seized in Ismailaj's bank accounts be confiscated. The government led by Sali Berisha, before going into opposition, expelled the Czechs from CEZ and the case went to Arbitration. There, an agreement was reached with the new government of Edi Rama that paid a bill of 95 million euros. The bill was a move to avoid a loss of several hundred million euros as argued at the time. During the Arbitration process in Vienna, evidence implicating Ilir Meta came to light, evidence that leaked to the Austrian media.
"This is clearly seen in the testimony of Jozef Hesek, given to our lawyers in the Vienna Arbitration process, and in his point 8 he says that the former ambassador Tepshi, who was also a person close to Meta, a person who is long dealt with the process of privatization, during the time he was ambassador, and with other economic processes, and the investment of CEZ in Albania, he has presented Ismail before and personally as the person close to Ilir Meta and Berisha", said the lawyer of OSHEE, Romeo Karaj.
A video of Kastriot Ismailaj's wife, Vojsava, published in 2017, but filmed in 2016 by journalist Fatos Mahmutaj, spoke of the involvement of the high ranks of politics. She mentions Ilir Meta by name.
The lawyers of both parties had started to present more and more details to the Court of Arbitration and this had to be stopped since powerful names were involved. I can mention the Speaker of the Parliament, Ilir Meta, as being directly interested in the fact that the noise about the so-called CEZ affair had to die down. This is related to his activity as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Economy.
"It is a video that clearly proves Ismailaj's connection with Meta, as a friend of the house, business, the pressure that Meta has put on Ismailaj to ask for money from the Czechs in connection with the decision of ERE no. 97/December 7, 2010, where the sale price was reduced of energy from 2.03 allek to 1.4 allek per person, bringing a loss according to my calculation, with reserves, at least 30 million euros per year. Meta has requested at least 10 million euros for this intervention that he has done to the detriment of the state" - said the OSHEE lawyer, Romeo Karaj.
Vojsava Ismailaj left Albania at that time. She expressed fear and uncertainty, so she left the country. Her husband Kastriot Ismailaj is currently in prison serving his sentence.
"To my knowledge, and he was under pressure, I said it as a joke, but I am sure that for fear of poisoning he was fed for a long time only with boiled eggs", said the lawyer Romeo Karaj.
The CEZ-DIA case shocked Ilir Meta once again, just like the video-tap with Dritan Prifti. The information that was released to the public at that time from the process in Vienna cooled the relations between him and Edi Rama. Meta began to lose his cool by making threats, which erased suspicions that the ally was trapping him in the CEZ-DIA corruption case. In fact, after a meeting between them, they melted. It seems that the prime minister proved that he had no knowledge of what was being published.