Ermal Beqiraj, the owner of the company “Soft & Solution”, has returned to the spotlight after his arrest in France, while in Albania he is wanted by SPAK for the AKSHI tender dossier.
Wanted by SPAK for the AKSHI affair
Beqiraj is one of the people under investigation in the matter of procurement procedures at the National Information Society Agency.
The Special Prosecution Office has issued a “prison arrest” order against him, accusing him of involvement in a suspected scheme to manipulate public tenders.
According to SPAK, he is suspected of collaborating with the former director of AKSHI, Mirlinda Karçanaj, Ergys Agasin, Armand Frangu and other individuals to predetermine the winners of tenders, as well as to threaten competing businesses to withdraw from the competitions.
The company “Soft & Solution” at the center of the investigation
On September 15, 2025, businessman Ermal Beqiraj, owner of the company “Soft & Solution”, was summoned to SPAK, after his company’s offices had been searched a few weeks earlier as part of investigations into AKSHI tenders.
The investigation, which also includes the former director of the National Agency for Information Security, Mirlinda Karçanaj, focuses on 12 procurement procedures worth millions of euros for the maintenance of state systems.
According to SPAK, Beqiraj is suspected of having benefited from manipulated tenders through his company, while the Democratic Party has denounced that in 2024 alone, “Soft & Solution” won contracts worth over 22.7 million euros, part of the over 30 million euros benefited from AKSHI over the years.
Investigators are also verifying Beqiraj’s financial transactions, including the purchase of a luxury yacht worth 930,000 euros, registered in the name of a 24-year-old Romanian citizen.
The incident in France
Beqiraj’s name came back into the spotlight after reports by French media outlet JDD, according to which an Albanian citizen, identified as Ermal B., was detained after flying a small plane over the Penly nuclear power plant in France.
According to reports, French investigators raised doubts about the flight route, the landing of the plane below the permitted altitude over the strategic facility, and the fact that three AirTag tracking devices were found during the search.
French authorities are investigating whether this was a violation of flight rules or an organized action.
Ermal Beqiraj is now at the center of two sensitive issues: the SPAK investigation into the AKSHI tenders and the investigation by French authorities regarding the incident near the nuclear power plant.
Who is Ermal Beqiri?
Ermal Beqiri’s name became known to the public in 2011. At that time, the 30-year-old electronic engineer from Gjirokastra and director of Information Technology at the Rectorate of the University of Tirana, was selected as one of the experts called in the “corruption” trial that was taking place in the High Court against former Deputy Prime Minister Ilir Meta.
The role of Beqiri and his colleagues was to examine the video known to the public as “Meta-Prifti”, which implied that Ilir Meta and his friend and early collaborator, Dritan Prifti, both part of the government, were discussing “the distribution of money, in the amount of 700 thousand euros.”
The expertise conducted by Ermal Beqiri and other experts concluded that “the video was edited” and that the text had been taken out of context. Based on this expertise, a panel of 5 judges of the Supreme Court declared Ilir Meta innocent.
In parallel with this process, Beqiri, who, in addition to working at the Rectorate, was also a lecturer at “Kristal” University, created a private company, “Al-Forensic”, together with his colleague, Ardian Pollo, another expert called for the “Meta-Prifti” video.
This company did not have any noticeable success. The two shareholders suspended the company’s activities in 2015, while the profit for the last year was only 300 thousand new lek.
Previously, Ermal Beqiri had not had success with another company, “Al-Soft”, which he created and closed in 2010. Beqiri reappeared in public at the end of 2013, in what is considered the “Tax server scandal”.
In November of that year, there were strong suspicions that there had been illegal interference in the central server of the General Directorate of Taxes. To verify the situation, the deputy of the Security Committee at the time, Spartak Braho, accompanied by expert Ermal Beqiri, went to the Taxes. At that time, it was learned that Beqiri served as an IT advisor to the cabinet of Prime Minister Edi Rama.
Ermal Beqiri and Panajot Gjiknuri, brother of former minister Damian Gjiknuri, conducted the administrative audit of this case, according to evidence made public during the Parliamentary Investigative Committee on the “Tax Server”, held in 2016, boldnews writes.
A subsequent criminal investigation found that there had been no illegal interference with the Taxes server, but that the problematic situation had been created due to an electronic anomaly. The data shows that the connection between Spartak Braho and Ermal Beqiri was not only within the framework of official reports.
In June 2012, the company “Alb Red Stone” was registered, with founding shareholders Ramazan Domi, Ermal Beqiri and Arbër Braho, the latter the son of Spartak Braho. The company continues to be active and has the object “Activities in the field of production of construction materials, extraction, exploitation and processing of mineral resources, marbles, granites, etc.”
In 2015, Ermal Beqiri was appointed to the General Directorate of Mortgages, in the position of Director of Information Technology.
During the period he held this position, a private company without much history until then, “Soft & Solution”, began to win successive tenders for IT equipment at Hipoteka.
During 2016, there were media reports that raised suspicions that Ermal Beqiri was hiding behind the company “Soft & Solution”, which was officially owned by Arjola Koromani.
In 2021, Ermal Beqiri takes control of the company “Soft & Solution”. Arjola Koromani sells the company to Ermal Beqiri for the sum of 1 million new lekë and after this transaction, continues to hold the position of administrator of the company.
During 2024, Ermal Beqiri added three more companies to his business portfolio. In March of this year, he founded the company “R&D Solution”, with the object of “Scientific and technological research..etc.” The company’s administrator is again Arjola Koromani, the former owner of “Soft & Solution”.
In April 2024, Ermal Beqiri buys 100 percent of the shares of the company ‘IT Tirana’, for an amount of 144 thousand euros. After the purchase, the name of the company is changed to “NSolution”. And, in May 2024, Ermal Beqiri makes another important “blow”, buying for 380 thousand euros all the shares of the company “Horizon”./Boldnews