FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
He exposed himself in nightclubs and women's fights to become famous, but he didn't know that fame was his first prison. Now comes the second...
His arrest warrant has been issued, but a man has been walking around imprisoned for a long time. Not behind bars, but inside a shadow that he built with his own hands. Before the Special Prosecution Office declared him wanted for 7.5 tons of cocaine, Jetmir Pepa had already committed another form of arrest: the arrest of his image in the public eye.
A strange game resembles that of the sad knight of La Mancha. Don Quixote did not fight real giants, but windmills. Pepa also chose false enemies: momentary glory, petty envy, violent show in nightclubs. But while the knight of La Mancha did this out of innocent madness, here we are talking about another Don Quixote: the man who tries to fill his emptiness with scandals.
The psychology of a man about to be exposed
What drives someone to become the "apple of contention" in a women's fight over glasses in a restaurant? Why would someone fire a gun in the air in the middle of a concert, in front of hundreds of eyes? The answer lies not in courage, but in the fear of invisibility.
Such an individual needs to be heard, seen, discussed. Even if the conversation about him is dirty. Even if his name is associated with violence and meanness. For a frustrated person, scandal becomes a nipple that feeds a dry ego. Relationships with famous TV girls, publicity of violence in bright environments, even the claim to publish secret videos; all this is an attempt to stay on top of people's tongues.
But this peak is dangerous. Because the higher a man climbs on a pedestal of clay, the faster the fall.
When SPAK knocks on the door
While he played the role of "famous character", the Special Prosecution Office was quietly gathering evidence for eight episodes of cocaine trafficking from Latin America to Europe.
In April 2020, a 1,018-kilogram shipment from Peru. In June 2020, a full 2,020 kilograms from Ecuador. In the same month, another 516 kilograms. Then 500 kilograms from Colombia. In August 2020, the largest shipment: 1,600 kilograms. Two weeks later, another 1,238 kilograms from Ecuador. And in October, 531 kilograms to close the year. A total of 7.5 tons of narcotics that his group allegedly smuggled or attempted to smuggle through Dutch ports.
Yesterday, the Court against Corruption and Organized Crime issued 11 arrest warrants. Only three people were arrested: Mir Pepa's brother, Lulzim Pepaj, 52, along with Florian Marku, 34, and Anton Kolaj, 33. Eight others are wanted. Among them is Jetmir Pepa.
But what hit him more than prison was the seizure of 232 assets worth 12 million euros. The list includes 100 percent of the shares of "Pepa Group", his construction company that had won tenders with the local government. It includes 33.3 percent of the shares of a hydroelectric power plant in Fierza, "HEC Arsti". It includes 50 percent of the shares of "BIV Shpk" and the same amount of "Shëngjini 2013". The "Oxford Hotel" in Tirana, "Maison Nuve Aesthetics", and the famous club "Soluna" in Ishull-Shëngjini have fallen under seizure.
A total of 60 real estate properties have been frozen; arable land, plots, hotels, parking lots, apartments; distributed in Tirana, Kamëz, Lezha, Shëngjin, Saranda and Himara. 89 vehicles and construction equipment have been seized, as well as 72 bank accounts.
The state that dressed Don Quixote in false clothes
Now that the curtain has fallen, we see not only a naked man, but a state that clothed him in false clothing.
Because Don Quixote of La Mancha fought windmills with his money. But the Albanian Don Quixote, before being declared wanted for 7.5 tons of cocaine, had become a favorite partner of the government. His company "Pepa Group", founded in 2014, has won at least 52 public tenders since its establishment, with a total value of over 69 million euros. But the dirtiest figure is this: in the last ten years alone, this company has received over 33 million euros in tenders from the state budget.
33 million euros of public money given to a man who built his empire on the crooked stones of drugs, a man who went so far as to take the last name of his ex-girlfriend, to hide from justice.
Such a scandal needs no embellishment, because it speaks for itself: the state gave its hand to a criminal group and exchanged taxpayers' money for the white powder that was killing the youth of Europe.
Don Quixote fought windmills and lost. But at least he believed in his illusion. Mir Pepa, on the contrary, seemed to know that the illusion was false. However, he continued to stay on stage, cause fights, expose girls and shoot guns at concerts. All this to avoid seeing the reality: that behind his curtain built of clubs and pink scandals, there was an entire drug network waiting to collapse.
Now that SPAK has torn down that curtain, he remains a fugitive. But the most bitter question for him is not "where to hide", but "why didn't I hide earlier, instead of playing the role of a celebrity". Because he himself imprisoned himself in his appearance long before the court stamped the arrest warrant.
The state that fed him with 33 million euros of public money is now looking for him for drugs. But the question remains unanswered: who dressed this Don Quixote in the guise of a clean businessman, while he built his empire on two worlds; one on the stage of lights, the other in the shadow of Latin American containers? /Pamphlet
Thenia e muajit: “ Perceptimi se ne Shqiperi ka korrupsion dhe para te pista eshte i reme”
Thenie è atyre qe jane der ne gryke me ????
Keshtu e kane Don Kishotet trima, vuajne per Dylqinjat e Tobozes, u ngordh kali e tmerre, ndersa Sanço Pançot gjezdisin pae trazuar mendjen me gomere të ushqyer mirë.