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The Turkish 'fish' of online betting holds PEG the granting of licenses in Albania?

2024-08-16 13:11:53Investigim SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
The Turkish 'fish' of online betting holds PEG the granting of
The Turkish 'shark' of online betting: Illustrative photo

Strong conflicts of interest groups are still holding up the further decisions of the Government on the distribution of ten licenses, which the law says will be granted for the exercise of the activity of online sports betting.

The law entered into force on April 1.

However, the legalization has stalled in the other procedures sanctioned in this law, which start with the establishment of the bid evaluation commission and then the decision-making of this commission for the granting of licenses.

At the end of the month, May, Voxnews.al brought the article entitled " Dirty lobbying for 200 million euros of the online sports betting industry !".

The article was based on information obtained unofficially by our editors regarding the interest of a Turkish citizen to obtain not one, but several licenses for online sports betting.

It is about citizen Veysel Sahin, who sources said has shown interest by hiding behind a company registered in Turkish Cyprus.

Sources confirm that the Turkish citizen's interest in expanding his businesses in Albania is not limited to online sports betting, but also to other sectors.

Voxnews.al is interested in learning more about the sectors where the controversial businessman has shown interest.

However, mentioning his name even confidentially seems to be a taboo in state institutions.

But who is Veysel Sahin?

It is an unknown name for Albanians, not for Turks.

In 2017, Turkish authorities launched a massive operation against illegal betting in Istanbul, Northern Cyprus, Izmir and Bodrum.

17 people ended up in handcuffs at that time, including Sahin, while over 200 other people were charged. Sahin was accused of being the head of an illegal betting organization that was also practiced online.

In addition to this activity, the group is suspected of having laundered millions of euros in construction and resorts, either from betting or money suspected of drug trafficking.

Sources say that in Albania, Veysel Sahin is trying to enter through shell companies in cooperation with businessmen and third parties, Albanian citizens.

The same sources claim that the Turk's financial resources are huge and if he chose to enter Albania, he could kill the competition in any sector. As for the source of his financial power, it has been rumored in the Turkish media that Sahin's money 'smells'.

As for sports betting, the suspicions that the granting of licenses is predetermined, but the issue has already stalled in the clash of interest groups, are also raised in the way the law was changed in the last minutes.

The law approved on February 15 underwent some fundamental changes regarding who will grant the license. In the initial version, the law provided for the establishment of a commission of seven members at the Gambling Supervision Authority.

Members were proposed by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, a representative from the Financial Intelligence Agency and another from the Information Society Agency.

The bill underwent two last-minute changes. First, it removed from the license commission the ministry responsible for sports and introduced the Ministry of the Interior headed at that time by Taulant Balla into this commission, and secondly, it removed the article that automatically appointed the representative of the Ministry of Finance as chairman of the commission and decided to appoint the chairman by secret vote of the majority of the committee members.

The law also establishes a double standard regarding the appointments of committee members. In the third point of its article 17/1, the law states that the ministers have the right to appoint to this commission persons who do not exercise public functions.

This means that five out of seven members of the commission can be appointed persons from outside the Government, leaving a space for appointing to these positions persons who can lobby and vote for a certain company. The law does not make this exception for representatives of the Financial Intelligence Agency and the Information Society Agency.

The article seems to have been copied and has been added to the law with the possibility that any of the five ministers who will nominate their representatives in this commission will have their names ready and have already made the law.

Sources of Voxnews.al claim that the three changes in question were instigated by the former Minister of the Interior, Taulant Balla, in order to control the licenses that will be granted under this law.

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This article is exclusive to VoxNews, it is copyrighted according to Law No. 35/2016, "On copyright and related rights". The article can be republished by other media only by quoting VoxNews and placing the source link at the end, otherwise any violator will be held responsible according to Article 178 of Law No. 35/2016.


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