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INVESTIGATION: The police of Elbasan awarded the tender to the BUSINESSMAN signaled as a drug trafficker!

2024-05-02 15:27:36Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

INVESTIGATION: The police of Elbasan awarded the tender to the BUSINESSMAN

 "Ina Media" has discovered a scandal that connects the Elbasan Police with a person registered for drug trafficking, who has been identified as Nafiz Bajrami.

But the Police, in "good faith", hands him the keys to the Elbasan Police, announcing his company as the winner of the tender for the reconstruction of several buildings.

Even with the most important 'building', which should be confidential only to them, but an unknown person already knows. Moreover, it is filed.

"We are civilians and no one should know where we are specifically engaged, where our offices are, who we are. But, they know everything before we leave the police gate" , - says the officer, who with an instinctive reaction tries to partially cover his face. Asked by Investigative Network Albania what he means by "those", the officer explains: There are individuals who have been under surveillance for a long time and who have been in front of us for months as the reconstructionists of the Elbasan Directorate and Police Station. is written, among other things, in the article. 

In December 2020, a document classified for 10 years by Interpol Tirana, informs the Criminal Police Department about the data of Interpol Bern about the suspicious activity of Nazif Bajrami, a well-known businessman in Elbasan. 

The information refers to the year 2019 onwards, where the Swiss consider the 55-year-old businessman as a person filed for drug trafficking, in cooperation.

In the letter signed by the head of Interpol Tirana, the Swiss also list the names of the businessman's associates, the phone numbers of each and the places where they conduct the traffic.

"These citizens were members of a criminal organization, composed of Italians and Albanians, that trafficked large quantities of drugs from the Netherlands, from Germany, from Spain to Switzerland. This citizen, from 2018 to May 2019, traveled with his car, Land Rover..., to Stuttgart/Germany, the Netherlands and Spain," the secret document states.

In fact, the suspicions against the group of 10 people from Elbasan and Beijing, which includes Bajrami, were exchanged between the police, bringing surveillance and pursuit in Albania.

Foreigners inform that the group traffics cocaine from Latin American countries through the line Albania-Switzerland and Italy-Germany-Netherlands-Belgium.

At the end of three years, when it is delegated to the Elbasan Police by the State Police, the case is archived. At the same time, the company Bajrami N., with sole partner Nazif Bajramin, was given the keys to the Police of Elbasan, after it was declared the winner of the tender for the reconstruction of several buildings.

"Archiving means that there remains a case that has not been proven to continue the legal procedures, but the case can be opened at any moment, when there are indications again. So, every suspect, even when there is no evidence, remains in the archives, with the possibility that these archives will be reopened", explains Fatjon Softa, an expert on security issues.

The Contracting Authority, which submitted all the maps and layouts of the structures, which must be confidential (including the Criminal Information Office, the recognition rooms or the offices of organized crime agents), was the State Police.

"For a long time in Albania there has been the problem of public tenders, which in many cases went to companies, which were directly or indirectly administered by people connected to organized crime", comments Fatjona. Mejdini, Director of the Observatory for Southeast Europe in the Global Initiative Against Organized Crime, International.

"This practice has developed because of a connection that often exists between criminal elements and representatives of political parties", Mejdini continues.

Arjan Dyrmishi stands by the logic of the legal provision of public procurement, but suggests that there is a need for clearer, administrative regulations.

"It's a difficult balance. There will have to be a criminal investigation before entering the tender, but from the legal side it cannot be prevented, if there is no punishment", says Arjan Dyrmishi, security expert.

Tracked by the police, today he has its keys in hand

Just before entering the local police department, returned from 14 months to a construction site, an officer who deals with the investigation of serious crimes in Elbasan, lowers his hat next to his eyes. The officer's concern is related to the exposure of his identity and that of his colleagues, who investigate the city's organized crime and drug trafficking.

"We are civilians and no one should know where we are specifically engaged, where our offices are, who we are. But, they know everything before we leave the police gate", says the officer, who with an instinctive reaction tries to partially cover his face.

Asked by Investigative Network Albania what he means by "them", the officer explains: There are individuals who have been under surveillance for a long time and who have been in front of us for months as the reconstructionists of the Directorate and the Police Station of Elbasani .

The documents investigated by INA Media show that the procedure for the reconstruction of the local police was published on April 24, 2022.

With contracting authority the State Police, which offered a limit fund of 340 million lek, the merger of operators Bajrami N., sh.pk, & Zdravo sh.pk, were classified as the most favorable, economic offer.

The case turns out to have been appealed to the Public Procurement Commission by one of the disqualified operators, who requested the annulment of the decision of the Bid Evaluation Commission.

The request was not accepted, while the operative information that one of the administrators of another competing company in the competition was threatened to withdraw remained unverified.

One of the contestants admitted this difficult situation on the condition of anonymity, but when asked to speak, he refused to do so. With the information of foreigners, which the police had, and with additional data, which remained confessions, the contract was concluded on October 25, 2022.

INA Media asked the Police of Elbasan about the police pursuit of Nazif Bajram and received this answer: For any person, on whom there is information, which is classified as "secret", it cannot be made available to you .

Nazif Bajrami is the husband of Anduena Bajrami, who held the post of deputy mayor of Elbasan Municipality from December 2013 to March 2016, during the time when the mayor was Qazim Sejdini, also accused of dubious tenders.

Bajrami N., sh.pk is a company that has won dozens of public tenders from local and central governments. Only in the Municipality of Elbasan has it been classified as a winner in 35 tenders, out of 66 in total, that has benefited from the local government on a national scale.

Referring to data in Open Data, from the total tenders won by the local government, 30 of them were classified with a red flag for lack of competition or disqualification of all operators, thus remaining alone in the competition. Throughout the years 2019-2024, this company has benefited from 24 million euros in payments from the State Treasury.

Elbasan police, under construction and with secret operations

While the local police has returned to the construction site, representatives of the Belgian justice appeared again in December 2023, demanding in complete secrecy the commitment of the State Police and the local police to attack the criminal groups operating in Elbasan. A difficult secret to keep.

At the same time as the controls of foreign law enforcers, the structures of the Elbasan Police complain about delays in works. In the letter of March 6, 2024, forwarded to the central police in Tirana, it is said that a special meeting was held on February 27 for this problem.

The supervisor of the works from the Deklaida-Alb Institute is quoted in the letter as having discussed the reasons for the non-realization of the works which, according to him, "were requested and are continuously requested".

"During the implementation of the project for the restoration of existing buildings, unforeseen problems arise, there are delays in the installation of the facade plate and the lack of window frames" , - complains the director of the Elbasan Police, Ilir Proda.

This concern is repeated not far from a letter of November 1, 2023, which requested the increase of security elements in the detention rooms and additional electrical installations in the office designated for investigation and presentation for recognition.

Zef Preçi, an economic expert, insists for INA Media that, despite the legal provisions, the State Police should have avoided the classification of an operator, which was under investigation.

"There are well-known cases when family members/partners of exponents of organized crime, investigated and convicted by the courts of the country, have won and continue to win important tenders, for example for the preservation and physical security of the courts, the prosecutor's office", - argues the expert.

However, this is not the only questionable tender of the company Bajrami N., sh.pk

Currently, for another tender with the contracting authority "Aleksandër Xhuvani" University, complained to the Public Procurement Commission, there are data that the administrator, EH was threatened. with a limited fund of ALL 738 million, developed on January 31, 2024.

Reliable sources of the State Information Service refer that EH was threatened by Bujar Shega, to influence to classify the company Bajrami N., sh.pk as the winner.

Shega, also known as Marsel Shega, is charged with drug trafficking with Suel Çela.

Bujar Shega's relationship with businessman Bajrami is also proven by their trips together.

The most recent case, investigated by INA Media, is shown in the TIMS system, where Bujar Shega traveled together with Nazif Bajram on February 19, 2024, at 12:04, with a Benz car (Ac 1… VG), leaving from Albania through Qafë-Thana and returning together within the same day. Contacted by INA Media, EH did not answer the questions of the editors from whom he has been threatened. Even the businessman Bajrami did not answer the questions, whether he had problems with justice and what connections he had with Bujar Shega.

Experts suggest that this is the classic scheme of how criminal groups influence and use different businesses to benefit from public tenders.

" In many cases, representatives of criminal groups use other persons, not obviously involved in crime, in the management of companies, trying to cover their tracks", explains Fajtona Mejdini.

For Mejdini, winning tenders from criminal groups is an important opportunity for them.

"The first, because these groups benefit from income through tenders and the second, because these won contracts are used as a good image for their companies and serve as a result to clean the money, which comes from criminal activities" , - explains Mejdini.

"The phenomenon is extremely dangerous and affects not only the state's finances, but also leads to the control of certain areas by criminal groups", she concludes. In a file of the Prosecutor's Office of Elbasan, which INA Media has, Shega is suspected of being part of an open investigation for money laundering in 2018.

In addition to him, former socialist deputy Aqif Rakipi, who lost his mandate in 2018 and was declared non grata by the USA, is also considered a member of the criminal organization. The person who is the cause for the initiation of this proceeding is Emiliano Shega, Bujar Shega's cousin, as a person associated with him is also his brother, Gentian Hoxha (Shega), son-in-law of former MP Rakipi.

The Judicial Police says: The money (of Emiliano Shega) of criminal origin is being laundered in Albania through persons related to him, including the former deputy and the daughter, wife of Gentian Hoxha, as well as 14 other Albanian citizens, from 7 of which are active in Great Britain .

This investigation suspects a cocaine trafficking network from Guayaquil, Ecuador, to Europe, which is allegedly led by Gentian Hoxha, the son-in-law of the former deputy.

Two years after the start of the investigation, the file has been suspended, with the argument that letters were sent to the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. At the same time that this proceeding (no. 1440) has been suspended by the Prosecutor's Office of Elbasan, OFL referred to SPAK the seizure of 14 assets of the brothers Shega, Emiliano and Gentian, as well as related persons.

However, SPAK admits that it is aware that there is a money laundering investigation from Elbasan for all the above-mentioned persons, but that it is not yet aware of a decision-making by the Prosecution of Elbasan.

The card of Emiliano Shega shows that he was arrested in 2009 in London and was sentenced to ten years in prison for drug trafficking.

At the end of the four years and four months sentence, Shega was deported from the United Kingdom.

In decision no. 9, dated February 18, 2022 of the Special Court, his brother, Gentian Hoxha (Shega) 45 years old, is identified in the same documents with criminal records outside Albania for drug trafficking.

Citizen Gentian Hoxha, who also uses the name Martin Lila, born on September 18, 1981, is the leader of an organized, criminal group, involved in the importation and distribution of controlled drugs, accompanied by money laundering, with direct links to America. of the South, based in Guayaquil, Ecuador", the same liaison officer in the United Kingdom informs the court.

However, in the decision of the Court against Organized Crime and Corruption, Tirana, it is mentioned that the representatives of Gentian Hoxha submitted another letter to the Albanian police, according to which it appears that "he is not signaled in the Schengen SIS information system or in the national register of persons in search, OPS".

Among the assets tracked by OFL and investigated by SPAK, the sale and purchase of luxury vehicles, pasture lands in Gjileke, Dhërmi, but also the donation of an apartment of 130 square meters to Emiliano Shega by Luan Rama, the brother of Fatmir Rama (Miri i Xikes, killed 20 years ago).

The prosecution stated that there was no family relationship between the donors and the beneficiaries, "taking into account the criminal records of Emiliano Shega and Gentian Hoxha, there is a reasonable doubt that this property was actually purchased by the suspects, but, in order to avoid the responsibilities of different, they fictitiously dressed it in the form of a donation contract".

A notarized statement by the couple's son insisted that "he has no objection to this legal act and fully approves it, given that Emiliano Shega was close friends with his late brother, Enea Rama."

In conclusion, in the decision of the Court of Appeal on corruption and organized crime with no. 140, out of 14 assets, for which confiscation was requested, among them about 40 thousand square meters of pasture in Gjileke, Dhërmi, only 6 assets were transferred in favor of the state. The others turned out to be forgiven and justified. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court.

Elbasan, the city of international operations

In the city of Elbasan, for the last two years, six operations have been registered, through which it was aimed to find and arrest Suel Çela, mentioned in the suspended investigative files for drug trafficking. But all to no avail.

The most recent is the inspection on behalf of the Belgian authorities of the "agri-food" market owned by Petri Çela, the father of Suel Çela (Marjus Lulaj). Against the 35-year-old, a security measure "Arrest in prison, in absentia", imposed by the Special Court, remains in force.

He is being investigated by SPAK for organized criminal group, premeditated murder, attempted murder against Lulzim Masha, provision of conditions and means to commit murder to the detriment of citizen Elton Kila.

But, apart from an agri-food market, the underground premises, which include sleeping quarters, corners monitored by cameras and armored doors, photographed by the police, show that this is one of the areas of the city, which is not freely accessible by anyone.

Remembering the time when he was investigating the Directorate of Elbasan and mentioning the groups of the city of Elbasan, not leaving behind Çapaj, the former director of the asylum, Shkëlqim Pepkola, insists for INA Media that Suel Çela's group was more powerful.

"From an economic point of view, this group had a more suitable ground because of the facilities and support they had from the political power, where their influence penetrated to public interests. So, this group had a visible influence on the tenders and funds allocated by the local government at that time", says the former deputy director for the investigation in Elbasan.

However, no investigation so far has come to such a conclusion. Even a confiscation decision against the identified assets of Suel Çela, signed by OFL, in the final discussion, the SPAK prosecutor withdrew from the request for confiscation.

"In the conditions where it turns out that the related persons are justified by legal income, the Land Rover vehicle in the name of Petri Çela (Suel Çela's father) and the seizure of the black Land Rover in the name of Mario Çeles, I appreciate that the confiscation of these assets cannot be continued. To proceed with their return to the citizens" , - said the prosecutor. The request was approved by the court and was not appealed, becoming final within a month.

However, Acts number 36 of the Special Court, which were made available to INA Media, show Suel Çela's file. With a career that started at the age of 17, he was found guilty by the Court of Turin for 500 grams of cocaine.

Two years later the Court of Livorno issues another arrest warrant for the trafficking of an amount of 550 grams of cocaine. Over the course of 5 years, he receives security measures of arrest, leaves the apartment and is finally sentenced. He is investigated in Albania for the incident at the entrance of the "agri-food" market and is declared innocent by the former Court of Serious Crimes.

An investigation started against him and Endri Çopje since 2013 for the accusation of illegal deprivation of liberty of the citizen Bledar Kurti, was dismissed by the local court.

Objected at the highest levels, the Court of Appeal on April 18, 2023 ordered the trial of Marjus Lulajn, alias Suel Çela, and Endri Çopjen. The trial does not yet have an outcome in the local court.

The gunshot wound, Bledar Karaj, unlike the initial testimony, where he insisted that he had been shot by Suel Çela, denied it six months later, claiming that he had given false statements to the prosecutor and that he does not know the perpetrators. this event. The details, elaborated in the decision, show the connections of each of them, such as that of the Living bar, owned by Endri Çopje, whose name was returned to another file a year ago.

And this is the attack on journalist Gjergj Zefi. The investigation of the Prosecutor's Office of Tirana explains how Renato Bodurri, administrator of the Living bar, in Elbasan, was identified from his vehicle at the scene as one of the perpetrators, who shot the journalist, but Bodurri denied the implication. Two courts believed him and ordered his release, although it remained unanswered who used the vehicle, who had parked it at Shelcan and who had left the keys at Living.

"The Volkswagen Tiguan vehicle has a key, which I usually leave at the counter of the bar, and I cannot say for sure if this vehicle has been used by someone else" , - declares the suspect. After Bodurr's release, the prosecutor of the case, Saimir Hysa, told INA Media that he had asked for a "prison sentence", but the court rejected it.

"We recorded "Strike due to duty". It is not an easy event, it is premeditated and ordered. I cannot give any more details at this stage of the investigation", the prosecutor told INA Media.

Journalist Gjergj Zefi, contacted by INA Media, said that he wrote about Suel Çela, like any other journalist.

However, the journalist is not able to accuse, except the judiciary, towards which he has reservations, for the reasons that gave freedom to Renato Boduri.

"I doubt it was ordered from the prison; from criminal groups, that are involved in drugs and are related to politics ", - insists the journalist.

Like Zefi, who was not able to identify the aggressors, even the eyewitness, when asked, says: They ran away and I helped him, gave him water, until the ambulance arrived. I don't remember anything else .

Shkelqim Pepkola remembers that he held the position of Deputy Director for Investigation in Elbasan Police between 2015-2016.

He says that he was informed that there had been physical violence against police officers in public by exponents of criminal groups who, according to him, are protected by exponents of politics.

"There was an inexplicable fear among police officers in uniform to cross the gate of the institution and go out into the field ", - Pepkola confesses, whose turn it was one of the days.

"I had to physically confront the members of this group, who were armed with firearms. It is about Sokol Sanxhaktari, son-in-law of Qazim Sejdini, who threatened a person with a weapon in the middle of the city and opened fire. I had to intervene violently to disarm him and arrest him. There were many interventions to dismiss it as a case ", Pepkola confesses.

"The threats were natural from his side, but also from third parties and from people with influence in Elbasan, I was told that this (Lala) will remove you from Elbasan", - concludes the former police officer.

In fact, even though there have been open proceedings several times, justice has moved slowly towards the members of this suspected, criminal group./ INA


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