The investigative show Vetting, News24

When will Ceno Klos' secret hotel in London be seized?
On June 7, 2024, Klosi would be appointed Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, being in a conflict of interest with the position, as even today, Klosi continues to be in a conflict of interest as an MP. This is because he is an active shareholder in the company "First Bar Limited" and owner of a luxury hotel in London, Great Britain.

Through confidential sources, "Vetting" has obtained information that reveals that Klosi is one of the three owners of a prestigious hotel in London.

"The UK business in which Klos owns 33% of the shares, First Bar Limited, holds the leasehold right for a pub in Surrey - the Foresters Arms in Hampton Wick, which it bought on 31 May 2019 for 108 thousand pound" - said a source for Vetting.

Liz'hold (Leasehold) is a form of renting land or property, where one party buys the right to occupy land or a building for a certain period of time.

From the data on the official website of this real estate, it is revealed that this hotel with restaurant and pub was established in 1861. Even after the change of management at "The Foresters Arms", the decoration has been partially changed, where the company has made new investments .

 

Other details about the hotel's transactions are revealed in official documents, which Vetting obtained from the Land Registry or HM Land Registry, which is part of the Department for Housing, Urban Development and Communities, which reports to the Secretary of State in the United Kingdom.

In the document dated March 20, 2022, the company “First Bar Limited” is confirmed as the owner of this hotel-pub, with the company’s original address. It also records the purchase price of the contract, which confirms the transaction worth 108 thousand pounds.

Failure to specifically declare this asset has made Ceno Klosi subject to Law No. 9049, dated 10.4.2003 "On the Declaration and Control of Assets", where senior officials must declare in any case the assets they own according to Article 4, point a of this same law.

At no point is this asset disclosed by Ceno Klosi in the initial declaration to the HIDAKKI, adding to the number of violations committed by the head of Taxes. In fact, Ceno Klosi again declares his assets year after year, repeating the concealment of his assets, as former Director General of Taxes, as former Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and as a Socialist Party MP in the Albanian Parliament.

But how did Klos's problems with companies in London's offshores begin?

In January 2019, Ceno Klosi would become one of the partners of the London-based company "First Bar Limited", along with Redin Dokaj and Ritvan Dhamo.

Klosi owned 33% of the shares, as he still does today, but his problems with this company would begin when he became head of the former National Water Supply, Sewerage and Solid Waste Agency.

In the form submitted to the High Inspectorate for the Declaration and Control of Assets and Conflict of Interest, Klosi would not declare that he had obtained a loan on May 5, 2020 through the company "First Bar Limited" from British banks.

From the official documents, he has not declared the company's Common Fund worth 33 thousand pounds for 2020 and worth 121 thousand pounds for 2021. Also the company had bank accounts worth 18 thousand pounds in 2020, which are 4 -doubled to 72 thousand pounds in 2021.

But this is the least of the problems because things got complicated when the banker from Fieri decided to move to the head of the Tax Administration. It remains a mystery how Klosi agreed to take a position, which by hiding the company would put him in front of violations of the Criminal Code.

"Vetting" has discovered that Klosi did not give up the shares of the company and the self-declaration of the wealth form.

Even more unclear is the fact why Ceno Klosi did not resign from the shares of the company in London, where even to this day he is a shareholder in violation of the Law on the Prevention of Conflict of Interests in the Exercise of Public Functions. According to Article 22 of this law, Ceno Klos is prohibited from owning shares or shares in the capital, as well as any other type of benefit, which does not originate from passive ownership, from commercial companies.

Recently, the Special Prosecution Office has taken up the Bankers Petroleum case and has also placed the Taxation Institution under investigation, where it should be noted that for about 4 years, this institution has been headed by MP Ceno Klosi, against whom the files in the Prosecution Office are constantly increasing, but to date there has been no suspension or ban measure from SPAK.