FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
The preliminary hearing against former Minister of Health Ilir Beqaj has been postponed. The lawyers requested to be acquainted with some of the evidence, which they claimed was not provided during the investigation phase in order to have a more efficient defense during the judicial review. Another request was to receive the materials of the expert report from the dismantling of phones, USBs and computers. The next hearing will be held on May 6 at 10:00.
SPAK closed the investigations into this file at the beginning of April, and sent the request for trial against Ilir Beqaj, 8 other defendants, and two freight companies in connection with the SASPAC file.
Former head of EU funds management and former Minister of Health, Ilir Beqaj, is accused of 5 criminal offenses, including passive corruption, violation of equality in tenders, forgery of documents, fraud, fraud in collaboration and failure to declare assets in the case of 50% of the shares of the "Gzona" restaurant, otherwise known as the "Albanian Food and Hospitality Lab", an apartment in Vlora and a car.
For the most serious charge of corruption alone, the former senior official risks 4 to 12 years in prison. The same charges, in addition to that of concealing assets, also apply to Ermal Kurtulaj, a close associate of Beqaj. According to SPAK, Ilir Beqaj, in his capacity as the General Director of SASPAC, ordered Kurtulaj, with whom he had early acquaintances as they were partners in the Intech+ company, to implement fictitious procurements in violation of EU laws for EUSAIR projects only during the years 2022-2023, for EUSAIR projects, the money of which ended up in Beqaj's pockets. The tenders, according to SPAK, were made only for documentary purposes and later than the conclusion and implementation of contracts with various companies.
The other 7 defendants, Marinela Jazoj, Alfred Nikolla, Gazmend Haxhia, Elton Marini, Bjona Ziaj, Bledar Leka and Mira Topçiu, and the 2 companies "Landways International" and "Nine Service Int" sh.pk, are charged with fraud, forgery, active corruption, etc.
For this file of abuse of funds in SASPAC, Beqaj has been in prison since July 2024, while another process for the sterilization concession is continuing in parallel against him. Within the framework of this file, SPAK has placed in preventive seizure the apartment suspected of being hidden by Beqaj, 3 bank accounts of the defendants worth around 200 thousand euros in total, 19.4% of the shares of "Gzona" and 3 cars.
Lini një Përgjigje