Margo Rejmer
There is nothing more difficult than connecting the dots.
One of my sources says that a few weeks ago, a shipment of 50 tons of cocaine passed through the port of Durres. Get a calculator. 50,000 kilograms times 20,000 euros per kilogram makes 1 billion euros. That’s 12 percent of Albania’s annual budget.
And that’s just a load.
Now calculate how many people it takes to distribute 50 tons of cocaine on the streets of European cities? How many people, lawyers, bankers, notaries, law office employees and apartment sales agents, are needed to launder 1 billion euros?
And that’s just a load.
A well-known economic journalist told me:
‘Since 2018, I’ve been wondering how they did it? How did they transport and launder such large amounts of cash? What complicated system had they created? Then SPAK documents provided the answer: trucks full of money from cocaine sales move across Europe, crossing border after border thanks to bribes, while the money is stored in apartments bought just for their storage or buried in barrels under olive trees. Everything is so simple and so primitive. Endless amounts of money and corruption, that’s how the system works.’
Tens of thousands of Albanians are protesting because the country’s development model based on luxury investments and money laundering has never brought prosperity to any country. For ordinary people, it means only impoverishment: food and rent prices are skyrocketing, while the Albanian lek is currently unjustifiably very strong against the euro.
Businessmen connected to the mafia build housing complexes, parking money, and artificially inflate prices. Currently, a square meter in the center of Tirana costs about 3,500–4,000 euros, while the average salary is about 600 euros. This ranks Tirana among the first in Europe for the ratio between housing prices and citizens’ incomes.
One of the traffickers I spoke to recently told me:
‘Palermo in the 70s turned into a huge construction site, just like Albania today. Today Palermo is full of empty houses. Tirana will become a city of empty towers, because whoever can will leave here.’
Meanwhile, Albania is living with the publication of ‘The Albanian Files’, Rama’s magnum opus, a book of investments that have already been built, that will be built one day or, as experience teaches us, that will never be built.
Edi Rama, without any shame, publishes information there that had not been made known to the public until now, for example, that the project for villas and hotels in Zvërnec was drafted in 2022 at the behest of the oligarch Kastrati.
‘The Albanian Files’ is not only a testament to Albanian corruption and proof of the gigantic scale at which dirty money is laundered in the country. It is also a testament to the moral corruption of star architects, such as Winy Maas, Stefano Boeri, Bjarke Ingels and others, who in recent years have created the brilliant facade of Albania’s great economic success.
Why didn’t any of them ask themselves where such a poor country found the money for hundreds of investments and the construction of giant new towers?
In ‘The Albanian Files’ no Albanian architect is mentioned. Edi Rama has worked only with big foreign names. He presented himself as a visionary leader who brought the big world to a corner of the backward Balkans. And the famous architects reinforced this narrative, showing their neocolonial attitude towards Albania and their arrogance.
However, they were all surpassed by Reinier de Graaf, the world-famous architect from the Netherlands, who stated in ‘The Albanian Files’ that he would like to see Rama as the next king of Albania.
De Graaf, author of books and articles on how honest architects should avoid projects that serve as a cover for money laundering, writes:
‘For us, architects, it would be better if the next elections in Albania (2025) were cancelled. I will even go further. Since Albania has been such a bright supporter of architecture for years, it would be better for our profession if elections were never held in this country. And you, after your fifth consecutive term as prime minister, simply became president for life. Or maybe even king.’
De Graaf’s semi-ironic words became another spark that ignited the anger of Albanians again. Yesterday, the boulevard in the center of Tirana was once again filled with protesters.
Albanians say enough is enough with corruption and their treatment as provincial idiots. They say enough is enough with organized crime, which they say, under Rama’s government, has taken control of the country.
Among the crowd I recently saw a woman who collaborates with one of my informants and launders dirty money for him. She shouted: ‘Rama in prison!’ as she marched along with her young son.
And since we’re connecting the dots, let’s not forget: Edi Rama is the chairman of the National Council for Territory and Water, the body that approves every investment in Albania, grants construction permits, and evaluates every project. No investment can be realized without the approval of the prime minister.
Everything seems clear.
Now all of Albania is asking the question: will SPAK, the anti-corruption prosecution, want to connect the dots?
In an interview with the Financial Times, Rama says:
‘I am not the godfather of the mafia’, while addressing the protesters with the words: ‘F*** you’.
And the crowd on the street responds:
‘SPAK you, Rama!’
And repeat:
‘Tomorrow there will be even more of us.’
*The author is a Polish writer, author of the book on Albania: Sweeter than Honey