Vetting

Did the barber cover up the shortcomings of the Gjoka Construction tunnel? The Greek testified at SPAK
Hundreds of millions of euros have evaporated from the Llogara tunnel and it is not known where they ended up, but the most serious previously undetected problem remains physical and road safety in this segment.

Evidence that could jeopardize public safety has come to light from the depositions of the Greek director of the foreign company "Hill International", which won the supervision tender with the company of the partner of former ARRSH director Berberi, Valter Begaj.

"Evis... the contractor must understand that the project is not just a "hole", but is a tunnel which must be built according to international specifications and practices in ABSOLUTE respect for SAFETY issues..." writes Kirkinezis, representative of "Hill International NV" to former ARRSH director Evis Berber.

According to lawyer Leonard Karaj, even more worrying is the fact that we have no information about the approval of the works.

"I don't know that there is a roadworthiness test there and with this I don't want to alarm Albanians by saying "Don't go through the LLogara tunnel" so that we don't get misunderstood. But the Albanian Road Authority and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy must provide explanations if there really is a roadworthiness test and who carried it out because to my knowledge SPAK has requested this and no response has been given," lawyer Karaj stated.

The Turkish consortium has hired as a subcontractor for this project the company “Gjoka Konstruksion”, owned by Rrok Gjoka, also known as the winner of some of the most important infrastructure projects in Albania. Currently, the person who carries out various financial transactions for the Turkish consortium in Albania “INTEKAR ASL” is Rovena Dorezi, a lawyer for the company “Gjoka Konstruksion”.

From the early investigations of "Vetting", in the footage provided, it is easily visible to those who visited the works in the Llogara tunnel at the time, the lack of monitoring of this project, which slowly damaged the environment and beauty of the Karaburun Natural Park. At that time, environmental experts, for "Vetting", would raise the alarm about what was happening to the environment.

"You are talking about a tunnel that you are going to build in Karaburun, which is adjacent to the Llogara National Park, adjacent to the Sazan-Karaburun Marine National Park, adjacent to that other one. Then you read through it and through the lines, that it talks about habitats in the Alps. But a serious study of environmental impact assessment, should take into account these types of assessments in the analysis and in the final judgment it can be right for the experts to say and they should be right in most cases that they say "This should not, does not, or may not be done", environmental expert Olti Nika spoke to "Vetting".

The concerns raised by the experts of the Protected Areas about the way in which the studies on the impact of the infrastructure projects are handled are not random signals. From the field investigation of "Vetting" journalists, it is revealed that the company "Gjoka Konstruksion" has devoured land from the Natural Park of Karaburuni.

Exclusive footage from the ground revealed that the previously forested area of ​​Karaburun has been damaged by companies near the tunnel, occupying land that is not included in the contract.

“Vetting” would reveal that “Gjoka Konstruksion” had obtained a type B environmental permit in 2022, for the area at the entrance and exit of the tunnel, from the National Environment Agency. This permit also specifies the site area, where the inert materials extracted from the tunnel will be placed.

But the exit of the tunnel in the Protected Area of ​​Karaburun reveals the violation that has been done by the company, which deals with the implementation of the project. In the type B environmental permit, it is determined that the area where the soil extracted from the tunnel will be placed will be outside Karaburun, on the border with the protected area.

The footage reveals machinery used to break rock outside the tunnel, while the ascending section has been destroyed by machinery that has been used as a quarry. The area where the private company has intervened is under the central area of ​​the Karaburun Natural Park.

Under the old Protected Areas law, where some points were repealed a few weeks ago in Parliament, but which were in force at the time of the intervention, the private company could not carry out any kind of activity. This is because the first level of protection (strict) is used on this surface, which has the function of overall preservation of biodiversity and provides an undisturbed natural area.

According to the terms of the contract, the responsibilities in this case for the subcontractor's wrongful actions fall on the Turkish companies, as they will compensate the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy for the damage.

"Vetting" contacted the National Environment Agency about the measures taken against the intervention in the Karaburun area. A few days after the show aired "the tunnel of accounts, environmental and corrupt gangrene", In April 2024, the National Environment Agency would fine Rrok Gjoka's "Gjoka Konstruksion" 7 million lek for environmental violations on both sides of the tunnel, warned by "Vetting".

According to the vice-chairman of the "Mundësia" Party, Erald Kapri, in this case the same criteria should be followed for passive corruption.

"Corruption is both active and passive. You cannot accuse only the official who benefited, but also the other beneficiary, which is the company, because it is also a party to corruption and must be investigated to the end. Several entrepreneurs have been prosecuted in several files and the same standard must be followed here because we are talking about 189 million euros," declared the MP of the "Mundësia" party, Erald Kapri.

A few days after the publication of the dossier, economic expert Azmi Stringa, who had first raised the alarm 5 years ago, would again raise some very important questions through a post on his social platform.

"Why doesn't SPAK list the documents published by the Ministry of Interior in the procurement announced on December 14, 2020? 

"Anyone who knows how it works knows that the door to evil opens in the budget, then with a limited fund, then in a competitive procedure. If the first two don't allow it, there's no chance of stealing," expert Stringa would write in "Meta".

From the SPAK file published so far, there is a lot of darkness regarding the investigations and this is of course also related to the fact that the Special Prosecution Office maintains investigative secrecy. But the entry of Pamela Qirko at the door of the Special Prosecution Office forces SPAK to clarify the position of the former member of the "Vetting" body whether or not we have a conflict of interest. The pressure or influence on the investigations, in addition to the question marks, is related to the fact that the person who has verified the prosecutor who is investigating Balluku, is the same person who will defend him in the courtroom.

"Vetting" made a request for information to the Special Prosecution Office regarding Pamela Qirko's role in the case of Deputy Prime Minister Balluku and whether there is a conflict of interest, as well as the issue of her law license.

Until the publication of this article, SPAK has not responded to these questions, which place the approach of justice towards the government's number two, Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku, at the center of public attention.