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Shkruar nga Pamfleti
The son gives his father the tenders where he is the director. Petrit Kovaçi, the father of the director of Water-Sewage in Durrës, Spartak Kovaçi, is the beneficiary of two of the tenders, which are in conflict of interest.
The law prohibits benefits to the families of high officials in the region where they lead, but this has not stopped Spartak from doing business with his father with public money. Unfortunately for the residents, the works were not completed even on time, leaving hundreds of families without drinking water in the area of the former Kêneta in Durrës.
Tenders in violation of the law
On October 26, 2021, the Mayor of Durrës, Emiriana Sako, will open the competition for the tender for the rehabilitation of the network infrastructure in the Porto Romanos-Kênetë area and the rainwater network system in the urban part of Durrës for the first phase with fund limit 1.97 billion ALL or 20 million euros.
The company "Gjoka Konstruksion" shpk and the consortium of companies "Vëllezerit Hysa" & "2T" & "ADRIATIK" shpk would participate in the tender competition.
The union of companies won the competition for the tender with an offer of 99.9% of the limit fund, while the offer of "Gjoka Konstruksion" shpk was 2 million lek more than the offer of the winners.
Specifically, the company "ADRIATIK" sh.pk has as shareholders Ardian Mustafaraj and Petrit Kovačin with 50% of the shares. Petrit Kovaçi is the father of Spartak Kovaçi, the General Director of Durrës Water and Sewerage, an institution that was majority-owned by the Durrës Municipality and the rest by the Shijak, Krujë, Vorë and Kurbin Municipalities.
The Law on the Prevention of Conflict of Interests in the Exercise of Public Functions prohibits benefits from the family members of officials.
Meanwhile, Petrit Kovaçi, the beneficiary of this tender, is the father of Spartak Kovaçi, the director of Waterworks, an enterprise that was under the majority ownership of the Durrës Municipality.
In order to verify the violation, "Vetting" researched the documents where the conditions for competing and winning the tender were drawn up, where it turns out that it is the Standard Tender Documents that exclude from competition the families of senior officials working in the Municipality of Durrës or institutions in depending on the latter.
The responsibility in this case also falls on the head of the Durrës Municipality, Emiriana Sako, as well as the Bid Evaluation Commission in this municipality.
Another detail that constitutes a violation is revealed in the tender documents, where the implementation of the financial conditions that must be fulfilled by the economic operators that will participate in the competition is required. According to this condition, companies must present annual balances for the financial years 2018, 2019, 2020, where the balances of two consecutive years must not have a negative ratio between assets and liabilities.
However, from the balance sheets of the company "ADRIATIK" shpk, it is revealed that in 2019, the company came out with a loss of 380 million ALL, raising questions about how it qualified for the tender.
The reconstruction project not only had violations in the competition and conflict of interest, but also produced another violation in the field, exceeding the deadlines of the works. According to the contract, everything should have been finished at the end of January 2023. But while we are in the middle of February 2024, the works are still continuing and there is no penalty for the firm.
From the correspondence with the Durrës Municipality, "Vetting" reveals that the reason for the delays is the expropriation process, a step that calls into question the procedures of how the sewerage tender was developed, where the expropriation has not been resolved.
The last extension of the contract was on January 10, 2024 for another 6 months, but no one says who will be responsible.
Meanwhile, the Public Procurement Agency, in a communication with "Vetting", stated that "it does not result that the Municipality of Durrës has sent the report on the implementation of the contract, giving no explanation for the extension of the contract and the losses resulting from these delays as for the citizens as well as for the reconstruction funds".
Promotion
Even though it plunged the Durrës Waterworks into 150 million euros of debt, this fact did not stop the current government from promoting Spartak Kovač as administrator of the Durres Regional Water and Sewerage Company after the old waterworks was dissolved.
Successive reports of the High State Control for the Durrës Water Pipeline highlight the problems with the collection of money by Spartak Kovac. As if the reports from KLSH were not enough, it is the independent auditors who confirm the financial problems of the water supply company.
According to the latter, the public enterprise has problems with transactions and their documentation.
Meanwhile, after Kovac's appointment, his father's company won another tender from the Durrës Municipality. Even in this case, the conclusion of the public contract represents a conflict of interest, since the Municipality of Durrës has shares in the Regional Water-Sewage Company, i.e. the son.
But how did the request for this tender arise?
On September 15, 2022, Durrës Municipality opened the competition for the tender "KUB system on Taulantia street" with a limited fund of 366 thousand euros.
The documents reveal details that show the involvement of the Waterworks company in this tender. "Vetting" reveals that the drafting of this project was done by the technical directorate of the Durrës water supply. In this case, the winner of the tender is the company of the father of the Director of the Waterworks, Petri Kovaçi, with an offer of 400,000 euros including VAT.
Although the Regional Society of Durres has the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy as its main shareholder, once again the Municipality of Durres is one of the shareholders. The latter has 32.47% of the shares, connecting Petri Kovaçi's field of business with his son, as administrator of the water supply.
But the denunciations about Spartak Kovac started much faster than his involvement in the reconstruction issues. He has been mentioned by the Democratic Party as a person who influenced the corruption of the electoral process and the deviation of the vote in the elections of April 25, 2021.
Investigative sources have confirmed for "Vetting" that, last year, SPAK seized the computers of the water supply company, placing Spartak Kovač under investigation./'Vetting'
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