Investigative show Vetting | Armand Kullau
Porto Romano, who is the company with Russian connections?
One month after the Albanian government authorized the Dutch company "Royal Haskoning DHV" to carry out all procedures, in July 2024 the Durrës Port Authority would open the tender with a limited procedure with a limit fund of 39,3 billion lek or 393 million euros for the construction of the new port in Porto Romano, phase 1.
The tender would be cancelled after there were no favorable bids. At the end of December 2024, the Port Authority would reopen the tender, but the two-stage competition would be accompanied by complaints and objections from international competitors due to disqualifications by the Bid Evaluation Commission.
The disqualifications of companies with an international reputation have raised changes to the predetermined competition. In the first phase, the company "Jan De Nul nv" was disqualified, which filed a complaint because the lack of documentation for the projects it has implemented cannot be a pretext for a company that has implemented affirmed international projects.
The biggest problem is the fact that the Port Authority's Bid Evaluation Committee has refused to review the complaint because according to the law, 0,5% of the tender value must be paid to review a complaint, so the consortium represented by "Jan De Nul nv" had to pay 2 million euros to have the complaint heard.
The complaint was also rejected by the Public Procurement Commission, which was under the direction of the person accused by SPAK, Jonaid Myzyri, now suspended from duty. The latter did not accept the complaint, despite the company raising the issue that such a payment within 2 days requires time for approvals and, according to the company, it was aware of making this payment after the qualification phase and not in the pre-qualification phase.
According to expert Preçi, the legal framework should be respected as it is, but complaints should not be overlooked.
"It is true what you say that it is a large amount, but it is unblocked after reviewing the complaint. This does not mean that the Public Procurement Commission and the Public Procurement and Intelligence Services Agency do not verify the motives of the complaint and do not make decisions," declared expert Preçi regarding the disqualification case.
The Dutch company "Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors BV" and another company have passed the second phase of the tender, which, like the French company, was disqualified on the pretext that it had not made the equivalence of licenses, while the Dutch claim that this would have been done before the signing of the contract in case of winning the tender.
The Dutch company did not stop there, but sent a letter to the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, the Durrës Port Authority, and informed the Dutch ambassador to Albania about the tender issue. The disqualification of the competition and leaving only one company, “Archirodon Construction (Overseas) Company Limited”, until the end of the competition, making it the automatic winner, has raised questions about the ownership and transparency that critical infrastructure projects require.
According to expert Preçi, the European Union has established rules regarding critical infrastructure, the need for a "screening" mechanism, a mechanism for reviewing investments of this nature, where the port is part of the country's critical investments.
"These elements are missing in our country and continue at the same pace. This creates opportunities and benefits for someone suspected and who is under investigation or will be investigated soon and at the same time does not guarantee the quality of the public work," said expert Preçi.
But this project has become a double-edged sword as it could bring problems not only with the state budget, but also with regional security. Question marks about companies previously linked to Russian companies or entities sanctioned by the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom would arise with the companies in the second phase of the tender for the new port.
On April 4, 2025, Deputy Prime Minister Balluku would publish on the official page of the "Meta" platform (Facebook) that two companies had passed the second phase of the construction of the new port, the Dutch "Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors bv" and the Greek company headquartered in the Netherlands "Archirodon Construction (Overseas) Company Limited".
But as we mentioned above, the Dutch would be disqualified and the only company left in the competition would be the company "Archirodon", which at the end of January 2026 will be automatically declared the winner as the only company left in the competition. The publication of the company names by Deputy Prime Minister Balluku raises transparency problems because it is said that the company is Greek with headquarters in the Netherlands, while the company submitted for the tender has a branch in Cyprus.
This country is known for the use of offshore structures, which, in various international cases, have also been used by sanctioned entities, while identifying the ultimate owners requires higher levels of verification. According to former Deputy Chief of Naval Forces Meçollari, the stories with "offshore" can prove problematic.
"This makes me doubt that we actually have here, with Albanian rulers because I see a kind of phenomenon, where we have "offshore" companies, there is more stability and resistance, so as not to disrupt the status quo and this leaves you in doubt", said Dr. Meçollari about the offshore case. Companies in areas such as Malta and Cyprus raise questions about ownership, but also about investments in critical infrastructure such as airports, energy and ports. As we have mentioned above, the company "Archirodon Construction (Overseas) Company Limited" is not in the Netherlands, but has a branch in Cyprus.
The corporate structure of the company involved in the project is located in Cyprus, where individuals in management or administrative roles have previously been linked to Russian companies and entities sanctioned by the European Union, the United States and the United Kingdom. While they do not constitute evidence of a legal violation, they place the project at the center of the need for increased transparency and in-depth verification.
According to public records, the Cypriot company “CYMANCO SERVICES LIMITED” appears in the official documents of the Cyprus Companies Registry as the secretary of the company that won the tender for the construction of the new port in Durres. This role according to Cypriot law is formal and legal, it does not imply ownership or economic control over the company, but includes full access to its legal structure and administrative functioning.
Public records show that Cymanco Services Limited acted as corporate secretary for companies where Albert Avdolyan is listed as a director or associated figure. Avdolyan is a Russian oligarch included in the European Union sanctions list in February 2025.
"CYMANCO SERVICES LIMITED" appears in several international investigative reports documenting suspected corruption and embezzlement schemes involving Ukrainian oligarchs with strong Russian connections.
According to these sources, CYMANCO appears in administrative and legal chains used in offshore structures, linked to figures such as Dmytro Firtash, sanctioned by the United States for Russia-related activities, including relations with organized crime and support for Russian influence in Ukraine, as well as Mykola Martynenko, a former Ukrainian MP investigated in Switzerland and Ukraine for embezzlement, bribery and money laundering.
Reports published by "crime.hab.media" indicate that these schemes allegedly diverted funds from strategic Ukrainian state enterprises, including the "United Mining and Chemical Company" (UMCC) and the "Odesa Port Plant", causing losses exceeding the amount of approximately $13 million.
The funds were channeled through a network of shell companies in Cyprus, Austria and Switzerland, benefiting industrial interests linked to Firtash's titanium business in the period before 2014. According to data published in international databases, "CYMANCO SERVICES LIMITED" also acted as a secretary to "LUKOIL SECURITIES LIMITED", which is owned by the Lukoil group.
The latter is one of the largest Russian oil corporations, which has been the subject of international attention due to its ties to the Russian state and involvement in sanctions regimes following Russia's aggression in Ukraine.
Although not every entity associated with the Lukoil brand is automatically sanctioned, corporate and structural ties to this group are considered sensitive from a security and transparency perspective. Most recently, in February 2025, businessman Michel Litvak was sanctioned because the West considers him part of the circle of businessmen who economically support strategic sectors of the Russian Federation, in a context directly related to the war in Ukraine.
Public records show that in this case too, "CYMANCO SERVICES LIMITED" acted as corporate secretary in a company where Litvak was registered as a director, which places this service provider in the focus of verifications on compliance with the sanctions regime.
Although this company has severed relations with sanctioned entities, the fact that the same company continues to be used as secretary by “Archirodon Construction (Overseas) Company Limited”, a company involved in procedures for strategic infrastructure projects such as the new port of Durres, raises legitimate questions about due diligence measures and legal risk management.
These questions take on added importance in the context of changes to the European Union sanctions regime during 2025-2026, where the new packages have strengthened the prohibition of indirect circumvention of sanctions, expanded the responsibility of companies for “due diligence” and placed special emphasis on the role of intermediaries and offshore structures. “Vetting” spoke with NATO media contact Noelke Paul, about the connections of the company that is in the final stage of the tender for the new port of Durres and about security issues.
In response, NATO stated that regarding our request for the construction of the new port, regarding security protocols, we should address this issue to Albanian institutions.
"Vetting" contacted the Ministry of Defense, which stated that this issue is not related to its competencies, passing the responsibility to other institutions, while the new port will have a military base under its jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, the institution that carried out the tender, the Durrës Port Authority, has not had any official reaction to "Vetting" regarding the ownership of the Cypriot company and the connections of "CYMANCO SERVICES LIMITED".
Even the institution that has taken over the monitoring of this project, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, which has the Durrës Port Authority under its control, did not comment on the ownership and suspicious connections of the company in the role of secretariat.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure Belinda Balluku is under investigation for corruption by SPAK after she is suspected of favoring various companies in tenders of the Albanian Road Authority.
For several weeks, the Special Prosecution Office has requested the Albanian Parliament to lift the Deputy Prime Minister's immunity to enable her arrest, but this process is being delayed by the Immunity and Mandates Council.
To obtain more information, "Vetting" directly contacted the Dutch headquarters of "Archirodon Construction (Overseas) Company Limited" regarding its links to the company "CYMANCO SERVICES LIMITED", and whether it had any connections to sanctioned entities, but as of the publication of this material, we have not received any response from the company.
