Former Minister of Health , Ilir Beqaj, was released from his cell this Friday morning, after the Special Court changed his security measure from “prison arrest” to “house arrest”.
Beqaj had been held in prison since July 2024 as a suspect in several criminal offenses related to the SASPAC file.
According to SPAK’s accusations, Beqaj and the other defendants have conducted at least eight tender procedures in violation of the law, however, the court assessed that the evidence brought to court by the prosecution was not sufficient, for this reason it gave the prosecutor in the case another 3 months.
According to SPAK, Beqaj, while heading SASPAC, is suspected of having favored the conduct of fictitious procurements for EUSAIR projects during the years 2022-2023.
The prosecution claims that the tenders were carried out only on documents and the funds were obtained illegally through companies linked to the scheme, however, the GJKKO has decided to release him from prison.
INVESTIGATIONS
According to SPAK, Beqaj and the other defendants are accused of numerous criminal acts, including corruption, forgery of documents, fraud, and violation of public tender procedures.
The investigations have revealed that during the period 2022-2023, they carried out fictitious tenders and illegally benefited from contracts financed by the European Union. Suspected assets have been seized as part of the investigations, including properties and bank accounts linked to the defendants.
The defendants are, Ilir Beqaj, Ermal Kurtulaj, Gazmend Haxhia, the legal entity “Landways International” sh.pk, Alfred Nikolla, Elton Marini, the legal entity “Nine Service Int” sh.pk, Bjona Ziaj, Bledar Leka, Marinela Jazoj, Mira Topçiu.
Ilir Beqaj himself has been charged with ” Passive corruption of high-ranking state officials” committed in collaboration (2 times); “Violation of equality of participants in tenders or public auctions” committed in collaboration; “Forgery of documents”, by a person who has a duty committed in collaboration, committed 9 times; “Fraud” committed in collaboration with serious consequences committed 2 times; “Fraud” committed in collaboration”, committed 3 times; “Refusal to declare, failure to declare, concealment or false declaration of assets, private interests of elected persons and public servants or of any other person who has a legal obligation to declare”, committed 3 times”.
Also, yesterday, the GJKKO released Beqaj’s collaborator, Ermal Kurtulaj.
The latter is accused of committing the criminal offenses of “Passive corruption of high-ranking state officials”, committed in collaboration, (2 times) provided for by articles 260 and 25 of the Criminal Code; “Violation of equality of participants in tenders or public auctions”, committed in collaboration, provided for by articles 258/2 and 25 of the Criminal Code, (8 times); “Forgery of documents”, by a person in charge, committed in collaboration, provided for by articles 186/3 and 25 of the Criminal Procedure Code, committed 9 times; “Fraud”, committed in collaboration, with serious consequences, provided for by articles 143/3 and 25 of the Criminal Code, (2 times); “Fraud”, committed in collaboration (3 times), provided for by articles 143/2 of the Criminal Code.
Criminal facts:
1. During the investigations conducted, it is proven that the defendant, Ilir Beqaj*, has been acquainted with the defendant, Ermal Kurtulaj, at least since 2012, when the defendant was a partner at the company “Intech” sh.pk
The defendant Ermal Kurtulaj appears to have worked in 2017 at FSDKSH, then in several different projects and since 01.06.2022 he has worked as the coordinator of the “Facility Point” office, for the “EUSAIR” program, at SASPAC, appointed by the defendant Ilir Beqaj himself according to order no. 80, dated 26.05.2022.
During the exercise of his duties as Director General of SASPAC, the defendant Ilir Beqaj, acting as the ordering party in collaboration with the defendant, Ermal Kurtulaj, who acted as the executing party, during the years 2022-2023 carried out fictitious procurement procedures in violation of the “PRAG” rules, set out in the Rules of Implementation of the Financial Regulation, applicable to all EU external aid contracts, financed by the EU General Budget, the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) and mandatory to be implemented according to Article 5 letter “c” of Law no. 37/2015 “On the Ratification of the Framework Agreement Between the Republic of Albania, Represented by the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Albania and the European Commission on the Rules of Implementation of the EU Financial Support to Albania, within the framework of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA II)” and Law No. 21/2018 “On the ratification of the financing agreement between the Republic of Albania, the Republic of Italy and the European Commission, for the Interreg VB Adriatic-Ionian (Adrion) Programme 2014-2020”.
All services procured within the framework of the events “On the organization of the FESTA Conference (The Future of Environmentally Sustainable Tourism in Albania)” and “Energy Conference” as well as “Cooperation in the Adriatic and Ionian Region”, organized in 2023, were not subject to a regular procurement procedure, but the winner was agreed and determined long before the procurement procedure was carried out, which was then fictitiously carried out for documentation purposes.
These tenders were conducted through a competitive negotiation procedure, which were ordered to be carried out by the defendant, Ilir Beqaj in his capacity as General Director, who signed the agreement to perform the specified service; the invitations sent to the entities to submit bids according to the type of procurement, the order for the establishment of a commission to evaluate the bids; the letter sent to the winner after the evaluation, as well as the conclusion of the contract, the payment orders – these actions were carried out some time later, from the conclusion and implementation of the contract.
Some of the services appear to have been fictitiously procured, as the commercial companies did not provide services, but rather defrauded in collaboration with the defendants Ilir Beqaj and Ermal Kurtulaj, for the purpose of material gain, and in at least two cases it is proven that the latter received irregular benefits from the defendants who represented these commercial companies.
2. The defendant Ilir Beqaj has made a false declaration on his assets from 2020 onwards, after he has hidden property interests in 50% of the shares in the commercial company “Albanian Food and Hospitality Services” shpk, with NIPT L91329021O and has not declared the expenses incurred for investments in this commercial company; has hidden the ownership and has not declared the expenses related to an apartment located in the city of Vlora; and has hidden the ownership of a vehicle.
As part of the investigations, a preventive seizure was imposed on the real estate (apartment), located in Lungomare, Vlora, and several bank accounts, and others were seized by the defendants, as follows:
14 323 125 (fourteen million three hundred twenty-three thousand one hundred twenty-five) lekë;
15 542 (fifteen thousand five hundred forty-two) euro;
42 318 (forty-two thousand three hundred eighteen) USD;
19.4% of the shares of the trading company “Albanian Food and Hospitality Services” sh.pk
Three vehicles registered in the ownership of the defendants