The investigative show Vetting, News24

Byber's violations
The current name of the mayor of Tropoja, Rexhe Byberi, also comes to the center of attention as the beneficiary of a new construction, which according to sources on the ground, is being built without a permit on the area adjacent to the municipality building. If you pass by that area and see this subject, you will not notice any warning or informational signs that work is being done there, which company has taken over the project, who has requested the permit, how much is the financing, etc.

This is contrary to Law No. 107/2014 “On Territorial Planning and Development”, which requires transparency and that information about construction be available to the public.

The editorial team requested information regarding this building and the Tropoja Municipality responded that a criminal proceeding has currently been registered for this object and the case is under investigation, no other details.

Meanwhile, on September 9, 2024, from the investigations conducted at that time, there were suspicions that the mayor of Tropoja, Rexhe Byberi, in collaboration with the deputy mayor at the time, Abedin Kërrnaja, abused their office during the process of opening the "Palçë-Guri i Lules" road.

This road, with a length of 3.2 kilometers, 80% of which passed through existing roads, was built in violation of the law, causing a damage of 2.7 million euros to the state budget.

Based on this, SPAK imposed house arrest on Rexhe Byberi and his associate, the deputy mayor, Abedin Kërrnaja, for committing the criminal offense of “Abuse of office”. However, only a year later, on August 1, the GjKKO decided to terminate their security measure, based on the request of the two defendants, imposing the measure of “compulsory appearance”.

Meanwhile, 10 days later, the elected MP of the Democratic Party, Klevis Balliu, in a statement to the media, denounced another corruption case in the Municipality of Tropoja, in relation to Byberi. According to them, just a week after the mayor's release from house arrest, Byberi favored his family members in a tender procedure, thus creating a conflict of interest, to the detriment of the public interest but also of the environmental one.

Meanwhile, going back in time a little, on September 21, 2021, contrary to the law, the Mayor of Tropoja, Rexhe Byberi, would proclaim "Honorary Citizen" in a restaurant in Tirana, and not in Bajram Curri, former senior official Charles McGonigal.

The latter was sentenced in February 2024 by the Washington Federal Court to 28 months in prison, "for a material breach of public trust", in connection with the $225 he received from Albanian-American Agron Neza and the failure to declare contacts with Albanian officials.

The findings of the HSE
The Supreme State Audit Office has often called for audits of the Tropoja Municipality, one of which is the tender for the “Asim Vokshi” school, with a limited fund of 50 million lek. It was assumed that with this money, sports fields and a gym would be built in this high school.

On November 11, 2021, the Albanian Supreme Audit Office (KSAI) reported nine officials of this municipality for this project, after the equality of tenders was violated, with Ardit Metaliaj's company "4 AM" winning unfairly, after other companies that had submitted lower bids and met the required criteria were disqualified.

This project was proposed by the Tropoja Education Office only through a general report, without a feasibility study, without a functional analysis, and without any argument that the intervention was an emergency priority in the territory.

It was the mayor himself, Rexh Byberi, who approved the project without requesting any additional documents, accepting an incomplete proposal and proceeding with financing from the Regional Development Fund in violation of the law.

Another violation of the mayor of Tropoja is the project to reconstruct five road segments in the villages of Grin, Buljan, Cerrnika and Tropoja. This project is worth four million euros, which, although it has a large figure, has not yet laid a layer of asphalt concrete in the infrastructure, a very essential component for the longevity of the investment and traffic safety.

And not only that. This action has not been invoiced even by the winning companies of this project, “4 AM”, “FLORIDA” sh.pk, and “VLLAZNIMI” sh.pk

Leaving the road with only binder exposes the entire investment to rapid damage and turns the project into an open financial and technical risk. The audit estimates that the lack of this layer has a potential economic damage of about 129 million lek, warning that laying the carpet at a later time will require the installation of a new layer, which greatly increases the final cost of the investment.

In addition to the lack of asphalt, there is also overcharging for road signs. Fewer signs were found on site than were billed.

The works have even gone beyond the deadlines, generating penalties of 4.9 million lek, which the Municipality of Tropoja has not applied. According to the audit, this shows unjustified tolerance towards the contractor.

An amendment dated December 28, 2021 was signed after the deadline for the works had ended earlier, making this act legally invalid and showing open avoidance of legal procedures.

This practice of signing amendments contradicts the requirements of the law and the responsibility is attributed to the leaders of the Tropoja Municipality. The SAI report directly addresses the responsibility of the Mayor of the Tropoja Municipality.

It is also emphasized that the delegations were carried out without justification, without documentation and without respecting legal requirements for form, deadline and transparency.