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During the time when Menendez benefited from the bribery scheme, he coordinated with a group of Albanian-American lawyers, which included Lita.
The scandal of American Senator Bob Menendez is expanding rapidly, while recently the name of a former Albanian deputy was also mentioned in connection with it.
Menendez is being investigated in connection with his interventions on behalf of the Egyptian and Qatari governments, interventions that US prosecutors allege he made in exchange for bribes.
A raid on his property by law enforcement authorities turned up envelopes of cash, gold bullion and other valuables, which the Justice Department alleges are some of the proceeds of an elaborate kickback scheme — a scheme collected through contract exclusive with the Egyptian regime.
But an investigation by 'The Daily Beast' shows that an Albanian businessman Gazmend Lita is also involved in this case.
During the time when Menendez benefited from the bribery scheme, he coordinated with a group of Albanian-American lawyers, which included Lita.
He met with the businessman's brother, Korab Lita, at that time a member of parliament, and repeated the talking points favored by both, including official statements.
The acts reflect some of the benefits authorities say the senator received on behalf of Qatar, allegedly making numerous positive statements about the country in exchange for bribes.
According to The Daily Beast, Lita was on the board of directors of IS EG Halal's India-based subsidiary and operated out of the same office suite in Edgewater, New Jersey, as the Hana firm.
The Daily Beast obtained public records showing that Lita had personally signed numerous documents related to the land deal.
In court documents related to his 2022 guilty plea to running a gambling "den" on behalf of the Albanian mafia, Lita's lawyers stated that their client - who had spent most of his career in the United States running various construction projects and a restaurant, most recently enjoyed a job as a "halal food inspector," a role that required extensive international travel.
In a 2023 filing regarding his probation, Lita requested permission to travel to his native Albania to visit family. The businessman stated that he planned to stay with his brother, Korab Lita, a politician in the right-leaning Democratic Party of Albania.
The Daily Beast has discovered that in September 2019 – that is, in the middle of the period in which Gazmend Lita's employer, IS EG Halal, allegedly made checks to Menendez's wife, the senator held a meeting with Korab Lita, then a member of the Albanian Parliament.
The American legislator did not make the meeting public, but his Albanian counterpart did. Korab Lita emerged from the meeting, where another Albanian parliamentarian was also present, claiming to have won Menendez's approval for a series of electoral reforms that he and his party had trumpeted, and further asserting that the senator had asked Albanian voters to take participate in the next elections.
The support of a powerful US official would give any figure enormous influence in the small Balkan country, where US positions have enormous influence, and the meeting and its photos earned Korab Lita numerous articles news in his country.
"Without real Electoral Reform, which will bring about free and fair elections, DEMOCRACY is an illusion," Korab Lita wrote in a Facebook post, claiming the words were a quote from what the senator had said .
In 2021, during the period in which Gazmend Lita was setting up companies in the offices of IS EG Halal and making a property transaction with the Egyptian government, and while "Wael Hana" was allegedly converting "IS EG" funds into gold bars and gift to Menendezes, the senator issued a joint statement with his Republican counterpart at the head of the Foreign Relations Committee echoing Korab Lita's calls for voter participation and concerns about election integrity.
The announcement also contained what appears to be a veiled warning to Albania's ruling Socialist Party, the main rivals of Korab Lita's Albanian Democratic Party.
"We encourage the Albanian people to vote. We call on the authorities to ensure that voters are able to exercise this fundamental right without intimidation and violence. We also expect all candidates to act in accordance with democratic norms even as they campaign vigorously. Albania's friends in America are more committed than ever to supporting a democratic and prosperous future for the Albanian people," Menendez wrote.
It would be just one of several statements Menendez would make that seem to tie him to the Lita clan and Albanian interests more broadly. And Gazmend Lita's brother in the Albanian parliament was not his only political associate with whom Menendez got involved.
Like Daibes and Hana, Lita and members of his US-based family have donated funds to Menendez's election campaign for a decade and a half. But in Lita's case, many of those donations have gone through the Albanian-American Political Affairs Committee, of which Menendez has been the biggest beneficiary in recent years, racking up many donations of up to $5,000 starting in 2021./ "The Daily Beast"
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