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Five years ago, Mother Jones uncovered a strange scheme that rocked Albanian politics. Now the journalists Dan Friedman and David Corn have brought other details, about the story involving the chairman of the DP, Lulzim Basha.
Five years ago, Mother Jones broke a story that rocked Albanian politics: a mysterious company based in Scotland had paid an American lobbyist with Republican ties to help a presidential candidate in Albania court support from the Trump administration, and the money with apparently they were connected to Russia. Now a new piece of the puzzle has materialized.
In 2017, Nick Muzin, a former aide to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) who became a well-connected and highly paid lobbyist, reported in Justice Department filings that he was hired to drum up support in the United States for Lulzim Basha, head of the center-right Democratic Party of Albania (PD), who was then challenging the current Prime Minister of Albania. There was nothing unusual about an influential person in DC being retained by a foreign politician. But a $150,000 payment for Muzin's services had come from an odd source: Biniatta Trade LP, a shell company registered in Scotland out of two other shell companies based in Belize.
Biniatta Trade had a complicated chain of corporate relationships. Those Belize-based companies were listed in corporate filings as officers of two other firms, and those two companies were controlled by Russian nationals. Moreover, there was no public sign that Biniatta Trade did anything. Its website, registered by a resident of Odessa, Ukraine, consisted of stock images. The British phone number he listed was not working. We couldn't tell who or what it was about. But corporate ties were traced back to Russia.
The story that a person or entity in Russia was using an American lobbyist to influence elections in Albania generated front page headlines in Albania. The possibility of Russian covert intervention made sense. Basha's party opposed the government led by Prime Minister Edi Rama, who had steered Albania towards the European Union and warned of increasing Russian influence in the Balkans. Moscow certainly had an interest in Basha removing Rama.
DPA denounced the article and Mother Jones, claiming the piece was part of a conspiracy involving billionaire philanthropist George Soros. Eventually, Albanian prosecutors accused Basha of money laundering and falsification of documents related to this case. That prosecution was later dropped. The controversy arose oddly in the case of Charles McGonigal, the former head of the FBI's counterintelligence division in New York, who pleaded guilty in September to crimes that included accepting a $225,000 loan from an ally of Rama and then ordering an FBI investigation into American lobbying.
Efforts made on behalf of Basha
Last year, a State Department report offered a strong suggestion that Biniatta Trade's payment to Muzin was part of a transnational Russian clandestine influence operation. In a summary of a US intelligence review, the department said that the Kremlin since 2014 had funneled at least $300 million to political parties and politicians outside Russia "to shape the external political environment in Moscow's favor." An administration source familiar with the report told AFP that Russia "spent about $500,000 to support the center-right Democratic Party of Albania in the 2017 election." (Muzin also received a $500,000 payment related to his Albanian lobbying; the origin of these funds is disputed.)
"We have been clear about our concern about Russia's activity to influence the democratic process in various countries around the world, including our own," a State Department spokesman told Mother Jones at the time. in response to questions about Albanian financing.
"Our concern about Russia's activity in this regard is not with any country, but global in nature, as we continue to face challenges against democratic societies."
The Russian role in the issue of Albanian lobbying, until then, seemed more and more clear. But one key question remained: who exactly in Russia was behind it?
Earlier this month, a team of investigative journalists at the BBC, the Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation and Finance Uncovered solved part of the mystery. They discovered that the Scottish shell company paying for Muzin's US lobbying for Basha was owned by a resident of Moscow.
These journalists are part of an international consortium that has been working through the Pandora Papers, a massive trove of files revealed by more than a dozen corporate services firms, companies that set up and manage offshore firms that help high-net-worth clients high move and hide money. Although first revealed in 2021, the documents, which include almost 12 million files, are still classified.
Ky ekip gazetarësh investigative gërmuan së fundmi në dokumente nga një prej kompanive, dosjet e së cilës janë përfshirë në Pandora Papers: Alpha Consulting. Kjo firmë, me bazë në Seychelles dhe në pronësi të një shtetaseje ruse të quajtur Victoria Valkovskaya, krijon kompani të fshehta offshore për klientët e saj, shumë në ish-Bashkimin Sovjetik, duke përfshirë anëtarë të rrethit të ngushtë të liderit rus Vladimir Putin.
Biniatta Trade ishte ndër kompanitë guackë të krijuara nga Alpha Consulting, e cila përdori struktura komplekse korporative në atë që duket të jetë një përpjekje e qëllimshme për të fshehur pronarët e vërtetë të firmave që sajoi. Brenda Pandora Papers është një marrëveshje private e 28 shtatorit 2018 që listonte një 40-vjeçar moskovit të quajtur Maxim Trofimets si pronar të Biniatta Trade.
Gazetarët që ndoqën këtë histori nuk mësuan pse Trofimets ishte regjistruar si pronar i Biniatta. Por ata vunë në dukje se në LinkedIn Trofimets e përshkruan veten si drejtor shitjesh në një kompani ruse helikopterësh të quajtur Exclases Holding. Kjo kompani thotë se u shet helikopterë italianë klientëve, duke përfshirë një agjenci të paidentifikuar qeveritare ruse, për kryerjen e “misioneve speciale të sigurisë”.
Dokumentet e zbuluara tregojnë se Alpha Consulting u përpoq të mbante sekret kontrollin e Trofimets mbi Biniatta. Një ligj i vitit 2017 që përpiqet të promovojë transparencë të shtuar midis korporatave skoceze kërkon që firmat e regjistruara në Skoci të zbulojnë pronarët e tyre të vërtetë, ose “personat me kontroll të rëndësishëm”. Më 27 shtator 2017, Alpha deklaroi në një formular dërguar rregullatorëve skocezë se askush nuk kishte një kontroll të tillë mbi Biniatta. Të nesërmen ajo përfundoi në heshtje një tjetër dokument, i gjetur mes morisë së dokumenteve të Pandora Papers ku thuhej se Trofimets kontrollonte kompaninë.
Pasi raporti i Mother Jones mbi Biniatta-n u shfaq në mars 2018, Valkovskaya u zhvendos për të rimarrë pronësinë komplekse të Biniatta-s. Ajo e kaloi kontrollin e kompanisë në firmat e vendosura në Ishujt Marshall. Ato firma të Ishujve Marshall drejtoheshin nga një fondacion i kontrolluar nga pesë drejtorë, të gjithë qytetarë të Seychelles. Në një email drejtuar bashkëpunëtorëve, të cituar nga Finance Undercover dhe mediat e tjera, Valkovskaya shkroi se pronari i Biniatta ishte “një fondacion privat i Seychelles, në të cilin ka pesë këshilltarë” dhe, kështu, nuk kishte nevojë “të deklarohej një person” tek rregullatorët.
Shumëçka mbetet e errët. Dokumentet e sapo zbuluara zbulojnë se një shitës helikopterësh në Moskë drejtonte një kompani skoceze guaska që po paguante për lobim në Shtetet e Bashkuara për të ndihmuar një parti shqiptare që po sfidonte një qeveri të kryesuar nga një kryeministër kundër Putinit.
Por a ishte Trofimets një front për burimin e vërtetë të parave që shkuan në Muzin?
Neither Trofimets nor Valkovskaya responded to Mother Jones' questions. Muzin, who said in 2018 that he believed Biniatta was a private company owned by DP supporters, did not respond to a request for comment. This new information revealed by the Pandora Papers is more proof that the payment Muzin received was connected to a Russian influence project. This particular operation was part of that larger covert effort that included Russia's successful attempt to help Trump win the White House in 2016. While Trump and his allies continue to insist that the Russian meddling was all a hoax, evidence to the contrary continues to emerge./ MotherJones
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