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Shkruar nga Pamfleti
"It all seems like favoritism, they're offering access to Kushner because they want to be on Trump's good side."
The New York Times has paid attention to the project of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of Donald Trump, the US President who officially takes office on January 20, on the island of Sazan, while the Rama government has given preliminary approval to the plan to build a luxury hotel complex worth 1.4 billion dollars.
The NYT article states that this project is one of several other projects involving Mr. Trump and his extended family that are directly linked to foreign government entities and that will move forward even though Trump will be responsible for foreign policy regarding these countries.
Kushner's firm, Affinity Partners, a private investment company backed largely by $4.6 billion in sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries, is pursuing the project in Albania along with Asher Abehsera, a real estate executive with whom Kushner has previously collaborated on projects in Brooklyn, New York.
Writing in the New York Times
The Albanian government has given preliminary approval to a plan proposed by Jared Kushner, Donald J. Trump's son-in-law, to build a $1.4 billion luxury hotel complex on a small abandoned military base near the Albanian coast.
This project is one of several other projects involving Mr. Trump and his extended family that are directly linked to foreign government entities and that will move forward even though Trump will be responsible for foreign policy regarding these countries.
The approval by Albania's Strategic Investment Committee — chaired by Prime Minister Edi Rama — gives Kushner and his business partners the right to move forward with accelerated negotiations for the construction of the luxury resort on a 111-acre area on Sazan Island, (Editorial note: 8 percent of the island or an area of 45 hectares) which will be connected to the mainland by ferry.
Mr. Kushner and the Albanian government did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday, January 15, 2025. But previously, when asked about this project, both parties have stated that the assessment is not influenced by Kushner's ties to Trump or efforts to seek favors from the US government.
“The fact that a well-known American entrepreneur is showing interest in investing in Albania makes us very proud and happy,” a spokesman for Mr. Rama said last year in a statement to The New York Times when asked about the project.
Kushner's firm, Affinity Partners, a private investment company backed largely by $4.6 billion in sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries, is pursuing the project in Albania along with Asher Abehsera, a real estate executive with whom Kushner has previously collaborated on projects in Brooklyn, New York.
The Albanian government, according to an official document recently posted online, will now work with American partners to clear the proposed hotel area of any possible buried munitions and to review any other environmental or legal concerns that need to be resolved before the project can proceed.
The document, dated December 30, 2024, notes that the government "has the right to revoke the decision," depending on the final project negotiations.
Kushner's firm has stated that the plan is to build a "five-star eco-resort community" on the island, transforming a "former military base into a vibrant international destination for hospitality and wellness."
Ivanka Trump, Mr. Trump's daughter, has said she is also helping with the project. "We're going to make it happen," she said of the project during a podcast last year.
This project is just one of two major real estate deals that Kushner is pursuing with Abehsera and that involve foreign governments.
Meanwhile, the partnership received preliminary approval last year to build a luxury hotel complex in Belgrade, Serbia, in the former defense ministry building, which has stood empty for decades after being bombed by NATO in 1999 during a war there.
Serbia and Albania have pending political issues with the United States, as both countries seek continued U.S. support for their long-running efforts to join the European Union, and officials in Washington are trying to persuade Serbia to strengthen ties with the U.S., rather than Russia.
Virginia Canter, who served as a White House ethics lawyer during the Obama and Clinton administrations, and also as an ethics advisor at the International Monetary Fund, said that even if there is no effort to gain influence with Trump, any government deal involving his family creates that impression.
“It all seems like favoritism, they’re giving Kushner access because they want to be on Trump’s good side,” said Ms. Canter, now with the State Democracy Defenders Fund, a group that tracks corruption and ethics issues in the federal government. / Adapted from Pamphlet from the New York Times /
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