FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
The Special Prosecutor's Office Against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK) indicted the former Prime Minister Sali Berisha and his daughter's husband Jamarbër Malltezi under the charge of passive corruption, accusing them of having benefited 5.4 million euros through the use of the public function of the former to the Prime Minister, money given by businessman Fatmir Bektashi, who was charged with money laundering.
The accusation, which became public on Saturday through the arrest of Malltez at Rinas airport and the communication of the security measure "compulsion to appear" for Berisha, is expected to cause a political earthquake in Albania. Berisha, the man who has dominated the country's political scene for three decades, accused the prosecution of playing a political game, hinting that his indictment is related to current Prime Minister Edi Rama's desire to eliminate the opposition. He also accused the prosecution and the court of violating the Albanian Constitution by imposing security measures against him without authorization from the parliament.
"Edi Rama thinks that engaging his prosecution against me and arresting my family members as political opponents, at the moment when the opposition has started more determined than ever the battle without return for the restoration of full and political pluralism, the return of free voting, and the rescue of Albania from the regime of the first and only narco-state in Europe, will be able to restrain, hit the opposition action," declared Berisha.
SPAK announced in a press release on Sunday that Berisha is accused of passive corruption and profiting, through Jamarbër Malltez, of the 5.4 million euros that the latter has benefited as a shareholder of the Homeplan company. According to the prosecution, Malltezi received shares and dividends from this company without investing in it, which raises suspicions that the shares were given by Bektashi in exchange for state actions taken by Berisha in favor of the company, which is known for developing a block of large residence in Tirana.
"Citizen FB is suspected of having committed the criminal offense of "Active corruption of high state officials", provided for by Article 245 of the Criminal Code, as he is exactly the one who collaborated with citizen JM to achieve the goal, which was the use of territories sports for carrying out constructions. Through the company "Homeplan" sh.pk, it provided the citizen JM with the granting of illegal benefits in the total amount of 672,976,832 lek or 5,420,345 euros," the prosecutor's office said.
Berisha is accused of having facilitated the development process of the area in question, popularly known as Kontakt palaces or the Libeskind palaces area, through legal and by-law acts as well as through the exercise of pressure controls on various government institutions in order to speed up the procedures . In short, Berisha is accused of using his power as prime minister for the benefit of the girl's husband.
"On the part of the citizen SB, in his capacity as Prime Minister of the Republic of Albania, concrete and active actions have been carried out, in the adoption of laws or by-laws, with the aim of adapting them according to the needs presented to the five known owner families, where winners directly, among others, turned out to be the husband of his daughter, citizen J. M.
"On the part of the citizen SB, in his capacity as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Albania, active actions were carried out to carry out administrative controls, with the aim of exerting pressure and giving concrete orders, for the conclusion of the privatization procedures, in favor of others, including citizen JM, his daughter's husband," the announcement continues.
"On the part of the citizen SB, in his capacity as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Albania, active actions were carried out in placing at the disposal of the citizen JM, the husband of his daughter, various structures of the state administration for the implementation of the privatization process state property," says SPAK.
Berisha countered these accusations with a number of arguments given in a press conference on Saturday evening. According to him, he cannot be considered responsible for changing the destination of an area that was once known as the Partizani sports complex due to the decision to remove that area from the list of military bases (the Partizani team was a structure of the Ministry of Defense during of communism), was not undertaken by him. And also, according to Berisha, the decision to transform this land from a sports area to a land for construction was taken by Edi Rama from his position as mayor of Tirana at that time.
"The destination of the Partizani club, from a sports ground to a construction site, has been changed with the signature of Edi Rama and without the proposal of Sali Berisha," declared Berisha. He also rejected the accusation that he has carried out the privatization of the Partizani Club in favor of Malltez, suggesting that the privatization process was initiated by the government of former Prime Minister Fatos Nano.
He also stated that Malltezi's co-ownership in property development companies "does not constitute a violation" nor a conflict of interest since Malltezi is not part of the Berisha family in the sense of the Family Code or the Conflict of Interest law.
"In court, she shamelessly speculated on the issue of Jamarbë Malltez's partnership with co-investors. The partnership, which in no case constitutes a criminal offense and has nothing to do with the SPAK of the party," declared Berisha.
The Homeplan company was founded in 2008 with the founder and sole partner Fatmir Bektashin. Until 2018, Bektashi was the sole owner of the company, but in this year, a 2014 contract was registered at the National Business Center, in which Bektashi appears to have sold 60% of the shares. The sales contract, filed at the National Business Center, shows that Malltezi had bought 35% of the company's shares against the nominal value of 35 thousand ALL. This seems to have led the prosecution to conclude that the benefit of millions of euros in dividends from this company by Malltez constitutes an illegal benefit, while the scheme of selling shares with a nominal value constitutes the mechanism used to hide the transaction for the payment of the benefit, i.e. the mechanism of cleaning the products of the criminal offense.
The Homeplan company has continued sales until 2020. Its balance sheet shows that only during the years 2019 and 2020 it has realized sales worth 2.75 billion ALL, with net profits of 310 million ALL. It has declared a zero balance for the following years, while in October of this year, the shareholders decided to liquidate it. The prosecution also decided to seize the Magnet IMO company, which is 100% owned by Jamarbër Malltez, but has zero income for the years 2021 and 2022. Magnet IMO owns 50% of the company KONTAKT SHPK & MAGNET IMO SHPK which was established in in 2020 and is the developer of several other buildings in the same area. /BIRN
Lini një Përgjigje