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Edi Rama's government undoes the nationalization of fiscal stamps to give them to a company from Abu Dhabi, with new monopolies for "medical" cannabis. Albanians bear the costs, Arabs take the profits; while Babloku hides smuggling tracks under the name of "fiscal traceability"...
The reinstatement of the fiscal stamp concession is confirming once again that behind every decision of Edi Rama's government, there is a hidden scheme of clientelistic interests, later approved by government decisions or laws in parliament, under the justification that it helps the country's economic development. On May 2, 2024, the government decided to abolish the private fiscal stamp concession and transfer this service to 100% state administration, through the public company "Shtypshkronja e Letrave me Vlerë", with effect from January 1, 2025. But the decision included a clause that envisaged pursuing this process again through a partnership with private companies.
Without competition, the company “O&S Security And Solutions”, based in Abu Dhabi, was appointed, consisting of the firms “Oumolat Security Printing Llc” (60%) and “Sicpa Middle East Investments Holding Ltd” (40%), the latter holding the previous fiscal stamp concession for 14 years. On March 6, 2025, the government decided to remove 49% of the shares from the state and transfer them to the Arab company, while the Ministry of Finance retained only 51% through the “Securities Printing House”.
Subsequently, the concession company “ALBTrace Co Sh.A” was created, with Jona Suli, former advisor to the Prime Minister and former director of foreign funds, as administrator, replacing Ilir Beqjan. Ten days ago, the Minister of Finance Petrit Malaj issued an internal order, sanctioning that the ministry no longer has competence over the control of fiscal stamps, both in terms of quantity and production and distribution series. According to this order, 80% of the profit from the sale of fiscal stamps will go to the Arab company, while only 20% to the Albanian government, although the latter owns 51% of the shares and covers most of the expenses.
In addition to monopolizing fiscal stamps, “ALBTrace Co” has also been contracted for the marking and traceability of the process of cultivating, processing and trading cannabis for medical use. This is expected to pave the way for a new sensitive market with potential for abuse, where through labeling as a “medical product”, trafficking and smuggling schemes under the control of groups linked to Dubai interests can be masked.
To ensure total control over this sector, cannabis products will be treated as excise products and will be equipped with fiscal stamps, produced exclusively by the joint venture. Meanwhile, based on the order of the Ministry of Finance, it is the private party itself that will control the distribution of these stamps, leaving the state without any real monitoring mechanism./ Pamphlet
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