A large-scale SPAK operation has led to the execution of 20 security measures against persons suspected of international cocaine trafficking and money laundering through investments in real estate, towers and luxury resorts in Albania.
According to investigations, the criminal group is suspected of having circulated and laundered over 128 million euros in drug trafficking proceeds, mainly through land purchases and investments in the construction sector.
However, the center of the debate has ended up being the absence from the list of arrests of several important oligarchs of the country, the leaders of dirty money. After the crackdown on Ilir Shtufi, the main launderer of dirty money in construction, Zen Berisha’s puppet, what about Agim Zeqo, otherwise known as “Gimi of Redbull”?! Or Dhjus Bushaj of the Frangaj clan?
-Gimi, a well-known figure in business circles, is suspected of having played a role in the connections between dubious investors and large construction projects. While dozens of people have been arrested or are wanted, Zeqo does not appear to be the subject of any security measures or summons for questioning in the context of this operation.
According to published claims, his name has also been mentioned in previous cases related to suspicions of money laundering. Over the past few years, there have been several reports and alerts against him, but none of them have led to criminal proceedings or concrete measures.
It is also alleged that he was involved in significant financial transactions related to land sales and construction projects, although so far there has been no official position from SPAK or other law enforcement institutions on these allegations.
To this point, authorities have not made public the reason why Agim Zeqo was not included in the latest operation, while investigations into the suspected drug trafficking and money laundering network continue.
-As for Dhjus Bushaj, as a reminder, the driver catapulted into an oligarch is one of the many in Albania who are tower builders or even beneficiaries of public tenders, known as “oligarchy puppets”, because his name only appears on paper and he is paid to close the accounts of the heads who stand above him.
Now the towers built with the dirty money of the boss of Dhjusi are being washed in the great washing machine of Albania’s clientelist system, where the average worker dreams of a house and no longer of building towers from scratch.
Dhjusi has also received the blessing for 17 towers to be “planted” in the heart of Lake Farka. 17 towers with 30 floors each, in one of the only remaining green areas in Tirana.
The project will be built by the company Lion Construction, owned by two already well-known names in the concrete and luxury industries, Dhjus Bushaj and Erion Gina, Sandri’s brother-in-law, two characters who have turned construction into a national sport.
It is about the excessive concreting of the only green space in Tirana. Lion Construction is the same one that built “Lion Residence”, the building that seems to have taken the breath away from the Great Park of Tirana, as well as the towers of “Lion Park 2” in Zogu i Zi.
-Another prominent character of this scheme is the red Burberry sweatshirt of the Eyes of Tirana tower. Mand Lilo, the owner of the building at Farmacia 10, whose facade burned like a piece of cardboard and left hundreds of citizens homeless, is one of the largest builders in the country, often mentioned in the media for the towers with dirty money.
His company ARLIS construction is one of those that has obtained numerous permits for towers and complex buildings in the capital and recently in Farka.
-Among the names on the long list is Arben Reli, one of the most controversial figures for the source of income in the construction sector from Korça to Tirana.
According to court documents, in 2021 the Tirana Court sentenced him to 9 months in prison for forging documents in legalization processes for buildings in the capital. Earlier, in 2016, he was arrested in Farka for continuing work on a villa complex, despite the suspension of the permit by the authorities.
In 2020, he was declared wanted for illegal construction and forging documents. At the center of the charges attributed to him in these files are forging documents, illegal construction and suspicions of money laundering through the construction sector.
-The blue-blooded businessman with colorful blood like the buildings he builds, Fatmir Bektashi, with permission to build a complex in the Farka Lake area, on “Turdive” street.
The new permission comes at a time when Bektashi is under investigation for the privatization of the former “Partizani” complex, where he is accused of corruption and laundering the proceeds of crime. Meanwhile, his name has been associated for years with major construction developments in Tirana, including massive projects in various urban areas, which have sparked debate about the impact on infrastructure and city planning.
-Artan Sako, brother of Tepelena mayor Gramoz, has made a name for himself with building permits and towers. KKTU documents have revealed another major building permit in Tirana, a 27-story tower on New Boulevard.
The project, carried out through the companies “2T” and “Be-Is”, is located in one of the most strategic areas of the capital, raising doubts about maximum land use and high construction density, typical of tower projects in the new urban Tirana.
-Erion Gina, Sandri’s famous brother-in-law, part of the Frangaj clan’s villa cleaning. The hotel broker with suspicious money has recently started camouflaging the national team’s footballers in the scheme.
This construction clan expands its activity mainly in the South area, Palasë, Dhërmi, Gjilekë and Kondraq together with Lenc Gjikurinë./ JOQ