The lawyer reveals the strong details, how Ilir Meta bought his freedom with Ermal Beqiri’s “expertise report” on the Dritan Prifti video, the staggering figures that were paid and the path from erasing the wiretapping of the century to the 2.6 million euro castle in France
Businessman Ermal Beqiri’s relationship with power and public money has a strong origin that dates back at least to 2011. According to the statement of lawyer Leonard Karaj on “Ntv Televizione”, this character managed to move the most corrupt levers of intelligence in Albania, starting his journey precisely from the famous Meta-Prifti videotaping. Karaj states that at that time, Albanian media published a video recorded by Dritan Prifti, known as the “Meta-Prifti” video.
To show whether the footage was authentic or if there had been interference in it, the Albanian court requested an official expert report from experts in the field. According to him, the head of this crucial expert report was appointed precisely Ermal Beqiri. He states that Beqiri dismissed that video as invalid and, precisely on the basis of this assessment, the criminal case against Ilir Meta was dismissed entirely.
Lawyer Karaj notes that the public opinion talks about staggering figures that Beqiri may have received at that time from Ilir Meta and his LSI party, simply for this service he provided at that time. But this was only the first step. According to the lawyer, a few years later, around 2014, when Edi Rama and Ilir Meta had just come to power, Ermal Beqiri appeared again. This time he positioned himself not simply on the side of Ilir Meta, but also on the side of the new majority.
The media at the time reported that he broke into the offices of the General Directorate of Taxes, causing a major scandal over the security of the data of all Albanian businesses. Then, with the creation of the e-Albania platform and AKSHI, according to the lawyer, Beqiri established his “empire” of billions. Through several of his shell companies, he benefited from billions of lek from AKSHI.
Excerpt from the statement of lawyer Leonard Karaj:
“Because of his own stupidity, Ermal Beqiri is in jail today. To put it plainly, beautifully and purely, and not because of the ability of the agents of SPAK, Interpol or the Albanian state, if you want to consider them in all ways. Ermal Beqiri was living his fabulous life, like many others who have stolen the Albanian state budget, the taxes of Albanian citizens, and now he was simply in that colony of his in France, because Ermal Beqiri, as Albanians know, has a past in the French state.
The French state knows him very well because he studied there. He has, as I told you, a past and he was simply living his third, fourth or fifth life – consider it as you like, because these people have received so much money that they are living three, four or five lives. Let’s explain two very important things for those who don’t know. Ermal Beqiri is the person who, at least from 2011 onwards, has shown that he has moved the most corrupt levers that the Albanian intelligence has had in this country.
The first was the Meta-Prifti video. If you remember, that famous video that the Albanian media published at the time by Dritan Prifti, our court requested an expert report from experts in the field to show if there had been interference or not, that is, if it was authentic or not. The head of that expert report was Ermal Beqiri and he at that time declared that video invalid and based on that video Ilir Meta was saved, the case was dismissed. So, evil mouths talk about dizzying figures that Ermal Beqiri may have received at that time simply for this type of work that he did at that time for Ilir Meta and the LSI. It doesn’t end there.
Two years later, three years later, around 2014, let’s say Edi Rama and Ilir Meta had just come to power, Ermal Beqiri reappeared once again, now not simply on the side of Ilir Meta, but also on the side of the majority. According to the media at that time, he entered the tax offices, of the General Directorate of Taxes, and then there was talk of a major scandal of that time, which had to do with all the data of Albanian entities, businesses. Then came e-Albania and AKSHI, and there at e-Albania and AKSHI, Ermal Beqiri simply established his empire. When I say his empire, we are talking about billions, let’s say, lek or millions of euros that AKSHI made available to Ermal Beqiri and shell companies, which… he didn’t have one, he had several companies.
And not in vain, then the appetite was also whetted in Mr. Ergys Agasi and many others who dealt with the issue. Let’s not forget, at AKSHI we only know what has been published, but not what has not been published because at AKSHI many tenders were made in secret. So, we still do not know how many millions of euros these people may have circulated at AKSHI, at national security, and how vulnerable our sensitive data as Albanian citizens have been. I strongly believe that we Albanians are the people with no secrets. Albanians have zero secrets.
Today we are at the point where, according to SPAK, this character not only had yachts, luxury cars, villas and houses all over the country, but he had almost managed to buy a castle in France. And it is not just any castle. It is a castle called Château d’Auteuil (Chatò d’Otej). About 1200 m² castle, so it has many rooms and of course with its own annexes, in a very large green space, so I mean including the courtyard, somewhere around 10 hectares.
Built at the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century, so four centuries earlier, in the style of Louis XIV in France, and it was built by, let’s say, the descendants of the Bourbon families. So, that castle has a kind of aristocratic history. Ermal Beqiri managed to get this, buy this castle for almost 2.6 million euros and has owned it for a certain period of time, until now it has been seized, and we don’t know how its history will go.
It is not known if Ermal Beqiri took that castle for himself, or if it was simply a kind of prestanoma for someone higher than him. And when I say higher than him, I mean the director for example, the prime minister, the deputy prime minister, all these powerful people whom Ermal Beqiri could have under his control, under his head, I mean.