New details have come to light from the Special Prosecution Office (SPAK) investigation file regarding former Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku. Invited to a television show, journalist Klodiana Lala has broken down how the luxury villa in Palasa, which is suspected to be Balluku’s hidden wealth, was discovered.
During her speech, journalist Lala explained the origins of SPAK’s inspections in the south of the country and in architecture studios.
“If you remember, we reported at the end of July and in the first days of August regarding several inspections that the Special Prosecution Office was conducting in the Palasa area, but also in several offices of various architects and various companies in the country, as there were strong suspicions that another luxury villa was a hidden asset of Ms. Balluku, who is now a former Deputy Prime Minister and former Minister of Infrastructure and Energy,” Lala said.
According to the journalist, the main evidence linking the former number two in the government to this luxurious property is an e-mail sent directly to her personal address by architect Alban Eftimi.
“The strongest evidence linking this property to Belinda Balluku is precisely an email that architect Alban Eftimi Atelier 4 sends to Mrs. Balluku’s personal address. In this email, which News24 previously published, he explains to Mrs. Balluku how the villa would look the next day. The expensive materials that would be used would be comfortable without question. He referred to a very luxurious hotel in Greece… Alongside this email, an 11-page document is also sent where the complete design of the luxury villa is shown, the way this villa would look in the end,” the journalist stated.
Lala also revealed the financing scheme for the construction and furnishing of the villa, which includes names like Arbër Abazi and Igli Tare.
“According to SPAK data, this villa in the first part, that is, up to the carbine, was paid for according to special prosecutors by Igli Tare, a former footballer, and then all the expenses for the further construction and furnishing of the villa were taken over by Arbër Abazi. Abazi is a businessman who owns the company Alco Impex General Construction, a company that has received many tenders from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy at the time when this institution was headed by Mrs. Balluku,” said Lala.
She added that the financing of the works was allegedly done in exchange for favors with public tenders:
“In the specific case related to the villa, a consortium of economic operators won one of the lots of the Great Ring Road, a tender of 22-23 million euros, and according to SPAK, in exchange for this tender… Mr. Abazi paid the costs for the rest of the construction, which range from 288,000 to 410,000 euros.”
The journalist also explained the role of Abazi’s partner, Lorela Reçi, and the extreme care taken to hide Balluk’s name, using the confidential designation “specific client”:
“Lorela Reçi is Arbër Abazi’s cohabitant who communicates with the construction company, the Green Coast company, and communicates to send his own subcontractors… and to send his own architect Mr. Xhelila… Except for Alban Eftimi’s email, everything else in the file says specific client. So those who dealt with all the other furnishings and construction were so careful that they referred to the specific client… all the invoices from different companies… were invoiced to Arbër Abazi’s company.”